The Culture of Things

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Unlock the secrets to mastering social media and crisis communication with insights from Evan Nierman, the CEO and founder of Red Banyan. In this compelling episode, we explore how to share with care and post with purpose, while emphasizing the potential dangers of oversharing. Evan delves into the profound impact of cancel culture on individuals and businesses, providing real-life examples that highlight the need for cautious online behavior. With his extensive background in crisis management, Evan offers invaluable tips on how to avoid and mitigate the risks associated with social media exposure.

Join us as we recount the evolution of Red Banyan, from overcoming early challenges to executing a strategic pivot during the COVID-19 pandemic. Evan shares lessons from losing a significant client and the importance of not relying too heavily on one revenue stream. We also explore the nuances of balancing strategic communications with crisis management and the importance of being prepared for any eventuality. Hear how Red Banyan survived the financial hit from the pandemic and repositioned itself as a crisis-specific agency, and learn from Evan’s experience in rebranding and relaunching the company’s website.

In our final segments, we shift our focus to proactive leadership and communication strategies. Discover how confident leaders can anticipate challenges and maintain regular engagement with their audience to foster a culture of openness and trust. We highlight the significance of having a well-prepared crisis plan and upholding core values to build resilient organizations. Learn from Evan’s expertise on managing reputation and communication effectively, ensuring long-term success for both individuals and businesses. This episode is packed with practical advice for navigating the complexities of modern social media and crisis communication. Tune in for a conversation that equips you with the tools to safeguard your reputation and thrive in today’s digital landscape.

Check out the episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/LHNurlIvWe8

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What if hope and happiness were more than just abstract concepts? Join me as I sit down with Dr. Randy Ross, the brilliant mind behind “Fireproof Happiness,” a book inspired by the trials of the COVID pandemic. Randy takes us on a journey through the powerful interplay between hope and happiness, invoking John Templeton’s timeless wisdom that “happiness pursued eludes, but happiness given returns.” Explore the transformative shift from a VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) world to a CAVU (ceiling and visibility unlimited) mindset and discover how hope is not just an emotion, but a dynamic motivational system crucial for achieving success.

Our discussion doesn’t stop there. We delve into the foundational beliefs necessary to cultivate hope—positivity, responsibility, agility, and reality—and provide actionable strategies to nurture these traits. Learn how to turn obstacles into opportunities with the simple yet profound question, “What does this now make possible?” Discover the significance of personal narratives and find inspiration from historical figures who have triumphed over adversity. Randy’s insights help us understand how to harness these stories to regain hope and take personal responsibility for crafting our own life stories.

In our final segments, we explore the creation of remarkable organizations through conscious awareness and the essential role of emotional health in the workplace. Dr. Randy Ross shares his mission of enhancing employee engagement through relationally rich environments. We discuss the importance of value-based goals, conscious capitalism, and the necessity of fostering a leadership culture rooted in vulnerability, transparency, and trust. This episode is a treasure trove of wisdom for leaders, dreamers, and anyone seeking to build a hopeful and happy life. Tune in and be inspired to create not just a successful career, but a meaningful and fulfilling journey.

Check out the episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj5MXN0NY0Q

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Unlock the secrets of a self-made business maven as Belinda, a woman with a four-decade entrepreneurial legacy, shares her story of determination and the power of a strong work ethic. Her journey from breaking gender norms to becoming a business leader is a beacon for anyone looking to ignite their own entrepreneurial spirit. Listen as Belinda divulges how customer service excellence and her transition from musician to business powerhouse have not only shaped her success but also influenced her children’s approach to their careers and passions.

Distractions are the nemesis of productivity, and in today’s episode, we tackle them head-on with strategies that every entrepreneur should arm themselves with. From the ‘Power Hour’ to dedicating just 15 minutes a day to income-producing tasks, we cover practical ways to build momentum and make consistent progress toward your business goals. The art of goal setting takes center stage as we delve into the psychological challenges entrepreneurs face, sharing anecdotes that celebrate the triumphs of clarity and persistence.

Wrapping up, we dissect the art of sales and the foundational pillars of business success, underscoring the essence of commitment and resilience. We highlight Belinda’s experiences and my own insights on identifying client needs, the indispensability of business analytics, and the power of organization. Moreover, we discuss the value of empowering leadership through collaboration and the celebration of victories, big and small. Whether you’re a burgeoning entrepreneur or a seasoned professional, this episode is laden with wisdom to propel your business and personal growth to new heights.

Check out the episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRT475HxjZ0

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Unlock the secrets to forging deep business connections with our latest episode, featuring a renowned hospitality and events professional who turned the aftermath of 9/11 into a catalyst for his career. Explore the intersection of authenticity, trust, and the hospitality mindset that this expert believes are critical for any business’s success. From the power of remembering names to the importance of aligning your company with likeminded businesses, this episode is brimming with actionable insights that will help you create lasting impressions and build stronger relationships.

Dive into the subtleties of networking and customer engagement as our guest outlines the transformative effects of mentorship and the significance of a service-centered heart in the workplace. Discover how even the most introverted among us can captivate customers through the art of listening and asking the right questions. Learn how mentorship shapes business strategies and personal development, drawing upon wisdom from industry giants like Walt Disney and the Ritz-Carlton. The conversation also reveals how to enhance experiences in settings as diverse as live events, casual lunches, or even a massage clinic, further proving that the essence of hospitality can thrive in any environment.

Wrapping up, we grapple with the challenges and opportunities presented by social media in modern business practices. Our guest reflects on the importance of maintaining privacy in an age where our digital footprint is ever-expanding, offering a sincere appreciation for the ability to influence and guide others through shared expertise. With personal tales of success and stumbling blocks, this episode is not only an education in hospitality but also a masterclass in leveraging your past to enrich your business’s future.

Check out the episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg3tjwPdzfM

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Listen in as we explore the essential facets of human-centered leadership in healthcare, inspired by the groundbreaking work of Dr. Bill Maples and his colleagues, Dr. Bridget Duffy and Dr. Ron Paulus. My journey in healthcare has been revolutionized by their insights into creating a culture that cherishes human connections, both within our teams and with patients. We unpack the profound impact of leading with empathy, presence, and vulnerability, and discuss the ripple effects of this leadership style on small and medium businesses, underlining the power of building trust and respect in every interaction.

This episode also zeroes in on the significance of being fully present in business settings. Apologizing for tardiness and giving someone your undivided attention can change the entire dynamic of a meeting. I share actionable strategies to help leaders foster an attentive and focused team environment, and the transformational effects of cultivating gratitude in the workplace. You’ll learn how these practices not only increase personal efficiency but also deepen the trust and connection you have with colleagues, shifting workplace dynamics from the brink of burnout to a state of thriving.

Wrapping up, our conversation with Jennifer delves into the blend of technical acumen and human-centered leadership. She sheds light on the development of a people operating system that champions character, competence, and connection. We also discuss the shift from traditional feedback methods to a forward-looking approach that capitalizes on individual strengths, and how these methods can be applied to enhance both leader and patient experiences. Join us as we reflect on the joy of leadership that comes from seeing others succeed and the anticipation of Jennifer’s contributions to the field.

Check out the episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dM8zC5Jgp0

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Growing up amidst the hustle of cattle sales and the wisdom of a financially savvy mother, Ben Law, our Financial Bloke, knows a thing or two about life’s wealth beyond the dollar. With heartwarming candor, Ben recounts how his rural roots and a confrontational health scare steered him from the familiarity of farm life to the dynamic realm of finance. This episode is a tapestry of tales, from the hard-won lessons of entrepreneurship to the pivotal changes that come with life’s curveballs, all threaded together by the common theme of discovering true prosperity.

Leading a team and building trust don’t come from textbooks; they’re learned in the field, which is precisely where Ben has cultivated his expertise. He reveals the nitty-gritty of transforming The Financial Bloke from a one-man show to a thriving advisory, navigating the complexities of leadership, and fostering a team ethos grounded in authenticity. The conversation, often punctuated with laughter, takes us through the intricacies of aligning with the right professionals, the strategic game of wealth creation, and the art of embracing “I don’t know” to evolve as a trusted leader.

But it’s not all business; we’re exploring the balance beam of life. Delving into the planning needed for a worry-free retirement, the rigors of setting up generational wealth, and the pressing need to prepare the heirs of family legacies. Ben passionately shares why prosperity isn’t just about financial security—it’s about crafting a life rich in experiences, relationships, and health. So, join us as we unwrap the lessons from Ben Law, the man who wears the financial truths of his past as a badge of honor, and learn how to navigate your own journey to holistic success.

Check out the episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86015DGENNE

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Tax maven and mentorship advocate Marna Ricker sits with us to demystify the world of global tax and share the vibrancy of her journey from Ohio State to EY’s global vice chair of tax. A beacon of intelligence and enthusiasm, Marna encapsulates the essence of dynamic leadership, breaking down the stereotype that tax professionals lack excitement. She generously pulls back the curtain on the intricate balance of professional growth and the personal life challenges she’s faced, showcasing how mentorship has been a cornerstone of her success and the success of those she’s guided.

Our conversation with Marna branches out into the universal importance of mentorship across diverse fields, from sharpening the skills of collegiate athletes to fortifying family dynamics. It’s the candid stories of triumph over vulnerability, such as a career-defining mistake turned into a valuable lesson, that highlight the significance of transparent communication and strong relationships. Marna’s anecdotes inspire business owners and professionals alike to embrace mentorship as a tool for learning, resilience, and empowerment on their paths to achievement.

In the latter half of our dialogue, we explore the art of nurturing talent to the pinnacle of partnership and the subtle navigation of office politics with authenticity and empathy. Marna’s journey is a testament to the enduring value of mentorship at every career stage and the profound impact of authentic leadership. Her reflections remind us that growth often lies in the courage to step beyond the familiar while holding steadfast to our values—a lesson as poignant for seasoned professionals as it is for those just beginning to carve their path.

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Unlock the full potential of your leadership skills as Agile expert Angela takes us through the essential art of prioritization. Peel away the layers of productivity myths, especially multitasking, and learn why sequencing tasks could be the secret to your team’s success. Angela’s insights on gender dynamics in task switching and the cultural variations in understanding priorities provide a fresh perspective on managing workloads effectively.

Join us for a deep dive into the power of trust and communication in leadership. Discover how these cornerstones shape the prioritization process within teams and directly influence performance. By exploring customer impact, regulatory compliance, ROI, and other industry-specific factors, Angela illustrates how leaders can strategically determine task order and adapt priorities. This episode is a treasure trove of strategies for fostering collaboration, reducing the risk of project misalignment, and turning every meeting into a productive powerhouse.

Embark on a transformative journey that challenges conventional time management and embraces structured conversations and time boxing. Hear firsthand how Angela’s personal experiences with Agile principles radically improved her workflow and how these lessons can be applied to your leadership style. We wrap up with a candid look at the growth opportunities that stem from tackling unfinished tasks and learning from failures, gearing you up for a streamlined and focused approach to leadership in 2024.

Check out the episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kfSywsRv1M

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Join me as I sit down with the remarkable Andrew Stotz, the mind behind the "My Worst Investment Ever" podcast, who not only inspired the concept for this series but also graced us as our first guest.

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As a seasoned leader with a remarkable journey through the realms of football, military service, and the corporate world, our guest this week has garnered invaluable wisdom from commanding teams on the field and in the boardroom. His candid storytelling transports us from the disciplined lessons of the Marine Corps to the challenges of adapting to the digital landscape in his current mission—coaching aspiring leaders.

With his Stronger U program, he sheds light on the pressing need for tailored leadership development, revealing how the character and actions of leaders deeply influence organizational culture. It’s a conversation that unpacks the uncomfortable truth that many leaders fall short of embodying their company’s values, and how fear and a deficiency in formal training contribute to this shortfall.

Throughout the episode, we peel back the layers of leadership, examining its simplicity yet profound impact on decision-making and talent management. Our guest emphasizes the potency of discipline and character—forged in his early years and honed through experiences in martial arts and military service—in shaping one’s approach to both business and personal growth. We navigate the complexities of instilling these qualities, reflecting on how a leader’s clarity and transparency can simplify strategies, and why nurturing self-trust is essential to embodying one’s values amid organizational pressures.

Closing out our enlightening dialogue, we tackle the resilience necessary to lead through crises, an aspect our guest knows all too well from his leadership during the tumultuous times of COVID-19 cutbacks. He shares the poignant challenges faced by war veterans and the dire need for support systems paralleling those provided by St. Jude’s for children. Concluding with insights on mentoring and building confidence, our guest leaves us not only with strategies for climbing our own leadership mountains but also with the profound realization that shaping the leaders of tomorrow is a commitment that extends well beyond the boardroom.

Check out the episode on YouTube.

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Have you ever wondered what lurks behind the glossy veneer of recruitment ads and smooth-talking headhunters? Join us as Marnie Jones and I unravel the ethical conundrums of the recruitment industry, shedding light on the commission-based models that might just prioritize cash over compatibility.

Marnie Jones of TalentX, is flipping the script, putting a premium on retention and role performance, ensuring that the recruiter’s success is intrinsically linked to the candidate’s thrive and the client’s satisfaction. Crafting job advertisements is an art form she has mastered, one that invites truly passionate candidates to step into roles that challenge and excite them.

Moving beyond listing benefits to spotlighting opportunities that tap into the candidate’s drive for problem-solving and growth. In the same vein, Marnie’s approach to hiring is about precision—a meticulous process that evaluates potential hires on every front, from knowledge to personality, leaving no stone unturned and no client dissatisfied. Finally, she tackles the nitty-gritty of reference checks, a step too often glossed over but pivotal in the quest for authentic talent representation.

It’s a dance of connecting the dots, understanding past performances, and projecting future success. Our conversation is candid, our approach is unyielding, and our results speak for themselves—confidence in our recommendations is paramount. Each story shared, each strategy discussed, is a step toward redefining recruitment where integrity isn’t optional—it’s the foundation.

Check out the episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6NX40v5IPY

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Cooking under pressure can feel like a high-wire act, but when our guest, a personal chef with a past in engineering and butchery, faced the ultimate test of feeding Harry Styles and his crew on short notice, he found his true calling. This episode unwraps the layers of leadership and authenticity in the culinary world, guided by our guest’s journey from the logical realm of engineering to the sensory-rich trenches of butchery and beyond. His tales of resourcefulness, like catering in incomplete homes, underscore the adaptability and quick thinking that are the secret sauce to culinary success.

The kitchen isn’t just a place for preparing food; it’s a melting pot of memories and emotional bonds. We stir into the narrative the transformative experience of families cooking together, transitioning from wariness to a symphony of collaboration.

The episode serves up advice on involving everyone, from the market to the dining table, enhancing family ties and confidence along the way. Through our guest’s reflections, discover how the shared ritual of meal prep can fortify a family’s unity and turn dinner time into a treasured event. Leadership can be found in the most unexpected places, even in the rhythm of chopping vegetables or the ritual of handwashing.

We savor the joy that comes from embracing the simple tasks that, when done with presence, become meditative practices fuelling gratitude and connection. Our guest plates up his philosophy on team building and customer service, carving out how a leader in the food industry can transform challenges into opportunities for growth. Closing the episode, we’re left with a lasting taste of how staying true to oneself is the ultimate ingredient for success, in the kitchen and in life.

Check out the episode on YouTube.

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Does the word ‘spirituality’ make you skeptical, especially when mentioned in the business environment? Well, our guest, Rachel Rider, is here to break those barriers. With her refreshing take on executive coaching and leadership development, Rachel intertwines the seemingly disparate realms of spirituality and leadership. Listen in as she recounts her personal journey from the tough task of handling dismissals to becoming an advocate for inner exploration. With her, we demystify the intriguing intersection of spirituality and leadership, which is often met with skepticism in the corporate world.

Trauma is an invisible monster that often goes unnoticed in the hustle of the professional world. This episode won’t let it lurk in the shadows, as we discuss the often overlooked subject of trauma in the workplace and the transformative power of trauma-informed coaching. We understand that personal struggles can masquerade as professional hurdles, and acknowledging these can lead to personal growth and eventual success. We also delve into the power dynamics and relationships in the workplace, underscoring the critical role of candid and strong team relationships in fostering organizational triumph.

Are you making decisions under the influence of urgency? It’s not uncommon, but it’s not always healthy. We explore the impact of these ‘workplace demons’ on decision-making and team dynamics. We provide insights into how understanding and managing these factors can change the game. We also touch upon how biases influence our actions and the role strong relationships play in overcoming them. We round off our enlightening discussion with a focus on visualization and its transformative power, as shared by our cricket-loving guest, Rachel. So buckle up for this journey of introspection and understanding, and learn to thrive not just professionally, but personally too.

Check out the episode on YouTube.

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Can your face reveal deeper truths about your personality, your relationships, and your future? The answer is more fascinating than you might think.

On this enlightening episode, we tackle the fascinating subject of facial profiling and how it impacts our relationships, workplace dynamics, and even our understanding of ourselves. We’re joined by a seasoned expert in the field, Alan Stevens, who generously shares insights from his two decades of experience. Listen in as we discuss the historical roots of facial profiling, its application in the modern world, and how our own masks contribute to anger and insecurity. Our guest also offers personal anecdotes and strategies for overcoming these issues.

We also take an intriguing look at how understanding facial traits can affect communication in relationships and leadership, and how it can even be used to improve sales by understanding customer motives. Along the way, we touch on topics as diverse as building confidence, the significance of body language, the impact of biases on our perceptions, and the role of facial recognition technology. Listen in as we also highlight the importance of authentic male friendships and emotional expression.

In a particularly interesting segment, we use the techniques of facial profiling to analyze the traits of notable personalities like Oprah Winfrey and Joe Rogan, showing how their facial features reflect their unique personalities. Finally, we underscore the importance of addressing mental health issues and fostering stronger relationships in our society. Don’t miss out on this rich discussion that blends psychology, history, and personal growth in a unique and enlightening way.

Check out the episode on YouTube.

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What if emotional intelligence held the key to effective leadership? What if it could be the differentiator in conversations and interactions, more significant than cognitive intelligence? Join us as we navigate these intriguing questions with our special guest, Robin Hills, a veteran in the pharmaceutical industry and the founder of EI4Change.

In our engaging conversation with Robin, he shares his unique perspective on how emotional intelligence shapes our interactions and relationships. From his experiences in the pharmaceutical industry, he reveals how emotional intelligence impacted his conversations with doctors. As we move into leadership, Robin discusses the essential role of emotional intelligence in adapting to changing relationships and circumstances. He shares personal anecdotes and insights, elucidating why it’s crucial to develop this skill and its emerging prominence in the age of artificial intelligence.

As we wrap up our discussion, we delve into practical strategies for improving emotional intelligence, emphasizing the need for continuous development. Robin shares his journey of learning from mistakes and the importance of self-awareness and reflection. We also explore the potential pitfalls of low emotional intelligence and highlight the significance of being open to different perspectives. This podcast episode underscores the immense value of emotional intelligence, not just in leadership, but in all aspects of life. Tune in to learn, reflect, and grow with us in this enlightening journey.

Check out the episode on YouTube.

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Join us for a thought-provoking exploration of corporate social activism and how organizations respond to social events that may impact their employees’ well-being. Listen as our guest from Genesys, Eric Thomas, shares how their company navigates these often tricky waters, discussing the importance of aligning with corporate values, credibility, and the potential impact on employees. You’ll gain insight into the decision-making process behind choosing to speak out or remain silent, and the potential ripple effects that these choices can have.

In this engaging dialogue, we also dig into the topic of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace. Eric shares how his immersion in emotional intelligence (EI) has recontextualized past experiences and shed light on the importance of a growth mindset in DEI work. We also touch on the responsibility that comes with being a minority in a predominantly white and male environment and the importance of approaching social issues with empathy and understanding.

Our conversation continues as we navigate the complex landscape of addressing social issues within a company. We explore the perception of activism in the corporate world, discuss systemic marginalization and its impact on society, and address the challenges of confronting biases in leadership. You won’t want to miss Eric’s insights on integrating inclusion into corporate culture and decision-making processes, and how acknowledging and atoning for past injustices can pave the way for a more inclusive future.

Check out the episode on YouTube.

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Can you imagine navigating the cut-throat world of corporate leadership as a woman? What if you had the tools to not just survive, but thrive? Our recent chat with leadership expert Dana Mahina, offered an insider’s glimpse into the towering struggles, and remarkable triumphs of female leaders in the corporate industry. We covered a range of topics, from the uncomfortable realities of inequality and privilege, to the importance of active allyship. Dana’s insights on the Strength Finders assessment tool and its role in understanding individual strengths and blind spots were particularly illuminating.

The conversation took an interesting turn when we grappled with the fiercely competitive nature of women in corporate spaces, especially in places like Silicon Valley. Dana shared her candid observations on the often-expressed need for women to mimic male behavior to stay competitive. We also delved into the curious dynamics of confrontation in the workplace, where Dana offered invaluable advice on maintaining assertiveness without aggression and fostering curiosity during challenging discussions.

Most importantly, our engaging chat with Dana shed light on the essential role of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. Drawing from her experience at a rally in Northern California, Dana underscored the importance of making a difference and how she’s seen the women’s movement shake up the corporate bureaucracy. Wrapping up, we indulged in a sneak peek into Dana’s new book ‘B is for Burnout, Not Bitch – From Overdrive to Thrive,’ and explored the importance of self-love in the demanding environment of corporate leadership. This episode is a goldmine of wisdom for aspiring leaders, don’t miss out!

Check out the episode on YouTube.

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On today’s show, we’re elated to welcome Hari Murali, the head of marketing for Zoho One. Together, we traverse the intricate landscape of approachable leadership and a unique concept: transnational localism. Through engrossing stories and candid anecdotes, Hari reveals how Zoho cultivates an ecosystem that propels its employees. This helps them be ambassadors of the company in their local communities, while firmly grounding the company’s cultural roots.

This episode is a treasure trove of insights on managing effective teams and fostering environments of trust. Hari’s sagacity shines through as he shares his strategies, from small conversations and delegation to handling conflict. This is aimed at creating a trusted milieu within his team. Unravel the importance of open communication, learn about the power of idea sharing, and discover how having trusted team members who can provide candid feedback is crucial for course correction during challenging times. As we wrap up, Hari underscores the vital role of listening as a leadership skill.

Discover the art of connecting with team members by engaging in their personal interests before transitioning to work discussions, and gain valuable insights into navigating tough conversations in a team with diverse gender dynamics. You’ll also hear about the detrimental impact of unapproachable leadership and the strategies for establishing trust within a team, emphasizing the significance of giving people the benefit of the doubt and encouraging them to explore different opportunities to find the best fit for their skills and interests.

Check out the episode on YouTube.

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Stepping into the entrepreneurial world can be a daunting journey, riddled with uncertainties and the fear of the unknown. Just as I did, today’s guest, Sangeeta Mulchandani, founder of Jumpstart Studio, faced these challenges head-on, transforming from a corporate stalwart into a successful businesswoman. Sangeeta unfolds her intriguing voyage from working at banking to becoming an influential mentor and entrepreneur, shedding light on the captivating charm of steering your own ship and the essential role of dependable allies in the business ecosystem.

Sangeeta’s relatable story of being an international student in Australia, with aspirations of securing a corporate job despite limited local experience, is a testament to her resilience. She narrates her triumph reaching the pinnacle of her corporate career, only to realize the need to contribute back to the community for her success to bear meaning. The episode further delves into her journey, as she transitioned from the corporate world to entrepreneurship, overcoming challenges, and embracing the power of a shift in mindset to take control of her life and effect a change.

Towards the end of our conversation, we delve into the crucial role of networking in the startup ecosystem, and Sangeeta generously shares her nuggets of wisdom on finding the right mentors and advisors. Don’t miss out as we explore her journey of self-discovery as an entrepreneur, discussing the importance of cultural intelligence and curiosity in managing multicultural teams. Get ready for an episode jam-packed with practical insights and inspiring tales of entrepreneurial transformation. Tune in now!

Check out the episode on YouTube.

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On this riveting episode, Chuck Knabusch, a seasoned expert of process improvement, joins us to share his invaluable insights on how to develop an efficient process. As the author of the book, “Hope is Not a Business Strategy,” Chuck emphasizes the significance of planning and consistency in creating a productive business environment. Listen in as he explains the concept of processes, how they are a series of steps that should produce a product or service consistently, and his experiences with process mapping in various business contexts.

As the discussion continues, Chuck delivers practical advice on the right mindset and structure needed to enhance your business processes. He emphasizes the need for having the right team, one that understands the process, and can effectively make necessary changes. He further underscores the importance of having feedback loops, performance metrics, and creating an environment of continuous improvement. Hear about his hands-on experience of engaging with workers at one of his plants to improve the process, reduce strain on the workers, and how he used visual cues, like post-it notes and bright colors, to aid process improvement.

Towards the end of our conversation, Chuck touches on managing crisis situations and the role of proactive planning in preventing them. He shares a real-life experience where he had to navigate a crisis situation at one of his previous workplaces. Lastly, Chuck reflects on the importance of confident leadership in process improvement and shares three key takeaways: having a business strategy, focusing on process improvement, and measuring improvement. So tune in, learn from the expert, and start implementing these process improvement strategies in your own business today!

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In this episode, renowned diversity and equity expert Dr. Jonathan Ashong-Lamptey discusses the concept of inclusion and its importance in the business environment. The conversation dives into the challenges organizations face regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion. Brendan and Jonathan examine the pitfalls of superficial initiatives and underscore the need for evidence-based inclusion. Jonathan focuses on data-driven inclusion strategies, and shares his insights on fostering a more inclusive culture. The episode concludes with an exploration of the Lindy effect and the importance of moving beyond generic solutions to achieve a truly inclusive organization.

Dr. Jonathan Ashong-Lamptey is the world authority on Evidence-Based Inclusion, featured in the FT, Bloomberg and BBC. He is the host of The Element of Inclusion podcast, a weekly podcast that informs and educates using applied research and thought leadership. Clients include Aviva Insurance, Sony Pictures, Conde Nast, John Lewis, Natwest Bank, and Meta. He is on a mission to help a million people to make their workplace inclusive through his writing, courses and other resources.

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Discussion Points

What is the definition of inclusion?
Defining diversity, equity, and inclusion
Common misconceptions about diversity and inclusion
Pitfalls of superficial initiatives in organizations
Evidence-based inclusion
Data-driven inclusion strategies
Time-tested practices and the Lindy effect
Importance of specificity in creating an inclusive environment
Challenges of focusing on trivial vs. real issues
The power of gap analysis in inclusion
The concept of racism and its perception in society
Re-thinking best practices and creating unique inclusion strategies
Discussion on the Lindy effect and cultural artifact creation
Power of giving and data-driven inclusion
3 Key Takeaways:
Confident leaders create an environment where everyone can perform
Confident leaders create an environment where everyone can belong
Confident leaders creat an environment where everyone can reach their potential
Feel free to leave your feedback about the show

Resources:

Dr. Jonathan LinkedIn

Elements of Inclusion

JA Lamptey Twitter

The Lindy Effect

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Website

The Culture of Leadership YouTube Channel

The Culture of Leadership LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Podcast

The Culture of Leadership Facebook

The Culture of Leadership Instagram

The Culture of Leadership Twitter

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Discover the art of delegation and supercharge your leadership skills in our enlightening conversation with Kevin Stansfield. We promise to break down the complexities of this overlooked but crucial aspect of leadership and business management. Experience the power of learning how to delegate efficiently and avoid the pitfalls of being the busiest person in the team.

Join us on this exciting journey as we discuss the importance of assigning business responsibilities to the right people, for the right roles, to drive profits and success. We also touch on the potentially disastrous consequences of outsourcing key roles to the wrong individuals. Our guest expert, Kevin Stansfield, with a background in finance, offers unique insights into understanding the big picture of a business and the skills required to run it successfully.

We wrap up this episode by distinguishing between abdicating and delegating, and how abdication often results from immature behavior. Learn about the importance of setting the right goals, creating a safe environment for team members to express their thoughts, and motivating everyone towards achieving a shared objective. Let’s get ready to become a master delegator and elevate your leadership game!

Quotes from the episode:

“Delegation is very much a learned thing and if you stay in one organization and work your way up, your teachers are the people that are above you, and those teachers are never being taught. So what happens is we just talk bad habits.”
“If the manager is the busiest person amongst the team, then something’s wrong. Yeah, if the manager sitting at their desk with nothing on their desk, sitting twiddling their thumbs, then they’re doing something right because they’ve delegated and their team are working.”
“Abdication is easy, you know, I don’t have to think about it, I don’t have to plan, I don’t. I don’t have to worry how good Brendan is, yeah, in order to abdicate stuff to you, it’s basically right, I’ve cleared out of my head and I’ve got rid of it, so it’s not bogging me down anymore.”
“The key focus one is to make sure the fives that they’ve got are the best they can have at that particular time. Okay, that they are developing each one of those people and moving them forwards, supporting them, holding to account because everyone needs to be held to account, yeah, and given the resources they need to deliver the job.”
“Trust is at the heart of management of teams. Yeah, If we don’t have trust, then we can’t have a team. And the best book on this was Patrick Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team.”

Resources:

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Website

The Culture of Leadership YouTube Channel

The Culture of Leadership LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Podcast

The Culture of Leadership Facebook

The Culture of Leadership Instagram

The Culture of Leadership Twitter

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership, or teamwork, feel free to contact him here

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In this episode, former naval warship captain and current change consultant, Dr. Karuna Ramanatha, provides valuable insights on how leaders can better manage transitions in their organizations. Drawing parallels between military 'fog of war' strategies and change leadership, Karuna emphasizes the importance of empathy, emotional intelligence, and respect. The conversation further explores the role of empathy in leadership, the concept of adaptive leadership, the intricacies of change management, and the differences between military and organizational attitudes toward change. The discussion highlights how cultural differences can affect change adaptation and the significance of confident leadership in navigating organizational change, using a 'cheat sheet', and role-playing as methods to handle these conversations.

Dr. Ramanathan is a transformational leadership expert with nearly three decades of experience in supporting senior leaders and organizations through difficult transformations. Karuna is currently the Principal Consultant for KR Konsulting, bringing with him deep experience gained from designing and facilitating more than 2500 sessions. He is a Marshall Goldsmith Global Certified Coach, Global Coach Group Certified Leadership Coach, and a trained Erikson Executive Coach. Dr. Ramanathan spearheads key leadership development projects including Action Learning Process, Organisational Storytelling, Thinking Skills, Building Adaptive Leader and Team Learning and Team Building. He has been featured as “Top 10 Organisation Development Consultants 2023” by the Asia Business Outlook and nominated by the CEO Insights ASIA, a business magazine, as one of “Asian Leaders & Achievers-2023”.

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Discussion Points

Karuna Ramanatha background and intro
Importance of empathy, emotional intelligence in managing transitions
Military 'fog of war' type strategies in change leadership
The role of empathy in leadership and creating connections
Adaptive leadership and influencing others
The Adaptive Leader Program for transitioning managers
Complexities of change management and understanding team capacities
Differentiating between military and organizational attitudes towards change
Exploring cultural differences affecting change adaptation
Characteristics of a confident leader navigating organizational change
Biases, prejudices and stereotypes
Developing empathy and emotional intelligence
Pace vs. flow in change management
3 Key Takeaways:
Confident leaders respect people
Confident leaders understand context
Confident leaders control the pace of change
Feel free to leave your feedback about the show

Resources (‘open in new tab’ in WP):

The Change Leader

KR Konsulting

Dr. Karuna Ramanathan LinkedIn

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Website

The Culture of Leadership YouTube Channel

The Culture of Leadership LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Podcast

The Culture of Leadership Facebook

The Culture of Leadership Instagram

The Culture of Leadership Twitter

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Today’s episode is a very personal and important episode for my family. We are foster carers, and my inspiring and dedicated guest is Marcie McGowan, co-founder and CEO of the Hatch Project, a social enterprise aimed at revolutionizing Australia’s foster care system. Marcie shares her experiences with the foster care system and discusses […]

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Most leaders avoid having ‘tough conversations.’ If they were easy, everyone would be addressing challenging issues with people in their lives. In this episode, David Wood, founder of Focus CEO, shares his experiences with difficult conversations and how he turned them into opportunities for growth and connection. From a devastating childhood trauma that shut down his emotions, to relationships, to his later professional life, David had to get vulnerable and be okay with risking everything to approach many challenging interactions with confidence. The episode explores the power of 'eating the frog' first thing in the morning, using a 'cheat sheet', and role-playing as methods to handle these conversations.

After life as a consulting actuary to Fortune 100 Companies, David built the world’s largest coaching business, becoming #1 on Google for “life coaching”. He believes the tough conversations we avoid are our doorways to confidence, success and even love -in both work and life. David coaches high performing entrepreneurs, executives and teams - and even prison inmates - to amazing results AND connection. One conversation at a time.

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Discussion Points

David’s lifelong trauma response due to a childhood tragedy
Coaching and the process of fixing your past traumas
Tools to approach difficult conversations
Confronting old bully through tough conversation
Tackling challenging tasks early in the day
Navigating difficult discussions in life
Using a 'cheat sheet' and role-playing for preparation
How difficult conversations can build trust and connection
The daunting nature of tough conversations and facing them
Earning back trust from an old girlfriend
Saying ‘I love you’ to his parents for the first time
Making difficult conversations more productive
Managing emotions when someone reacts negatively
The value of mastering difficult conversations.
3 Key Takeaways:
Confident leaders address uncomfortable truths
Confident leaders have the right tough conversation
Confident leaders practice their courage
Feel free to leave your feedback about the show

Resources:

Download the Worksheet

Focus CEO

Focus CEO LinkedIn

Extraordinary Focus Youtube

Extraordinary Focus FB

Focus CEO Instagram

Focus CEO Twitter

Book: The Mouse in the Room

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Website

The Culture of Leadership YouTube Channel

The Culture of Leadership LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Podcast

The Culture of Leadership Facebook

The Culture of Leadership Instagram

The Culture of Leadership Twitter

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In this episode, my guest is Elizabeth Rosenberg, Founder of the Good Advice Company. Elizabeth uses her own experiences of intertwining her corporate career with her mediumship, and shares her unique perspectives on the concept of purpose. Rather than focusing on achieving predetermined outcomes, she encourages living with intentionality. She discusses the influence of personal brand and childhood trauma on shaping our purpose, and how comparison culture and ego play roles in our pursuit of purpose. Elizabeth delves into the power of feedback in aligning life and work purpose, and shares how her own story has become an inspiration for her clients, emphasizing the importance of authenticity and intentionality. At one point in the interview, Elizabeth gives me a reading on my own life and work purpose.

An entrepreneur at her core, Elizabeth's true passion lies in working with new or reimagined, cutting-edge brands that are bringing consumers products and tools that make life more enjoyable, accessible, and healthy. Based in Los Angeles, Elizabeth is also currently working on her book and speaking about her health and wellness journey while maintaining a high-profile position working with some of the best known and innovative brands in the world. She truly believes there is a future where wellness, intuition and the corporate world collide.

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Discussion Points

Why is this topic so important?
How Elizabeth found this work
Finding and aligning life and work purpose
Living with intentionality
Impact of personal brand and childhood trauma
Ego and comparison culture
Tools for aligning life and work
Authenticity and intentionality
Retaining joy while balancing work-life
Rosenberg's journey - aligning her life and work purpose
Purpose beyond typical definitions
Personal branding
Role of childhood trauma in shaping one's purpose
Inspiring others to find their purpose
Closing discussion on the power of feedback in aligning life and work purpose
3 Key Takeaways:
Confident leaders align their life and work purpose
Confident leaders embrace their stories

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In this episode, Brendan speaks with Ashkan Tashvir, the founder and CEO of Engenesis, a subsidiary aimed at actively collaborating with, and supporting, carefully chosen businesses. Ashkan is not only a philosopher and a 2x best-selling author but possesses a strong background as a technologist, venture builder, and investor. Ashkan delves into his writing process, […]

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Ashkan delves into his writing process, his transition from non-fiction to fiction, and the impact of Persian and Russian literature on his work. The discussion also explores the human skills that subtly contribute to success, the complexities of social constructs, and the crucial role of authentic awareness. The themes of Ashkan's latest book, "Becoming: The Emergence of Being," are also unpacked. The episode offers insights into the dynamics of perception, reality, and the philosophy of achievement.

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Discussion Points

Ashkan Tashvir and his literary journey
The process of creating books and characters
Influence of Persian and Russian literature
Transition from non-fiction to fiction
Human skills that contribute to success
Different perceptions of reality and their importance
Unpacking the themes of 'Becoming’
Gender as a complex social construct
Challenges faced by leaders and teams
Importance of authentic awareness
The role of compassion in business growth
The philosophy of achievement
Impact of environment on awareness and authenticity
Ashkan's new book and its relevance to readers
Insights and closing remarks
3 Key Takeaways:
Confident leaders take control over their life
Confident leaders have a healthy relationship with reality
Confident leaders work on their blind spots
Feel free to leave your feedback about the show

Resources:

Ashkan Tashvir LinkedIn

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In this episode, Brendan speaks with Rob Buffington, seasoned consultant and entrepreneur, and CEO of Gordian Staffing. Gordian Staffing provides small and medium businesses with affordable, high-quality, remote team members for open positions.

Rob discusses his innovative business model that combines profit sharing and philanthropy. Early on, Rob had aspirations to be a pastor, but transitioned into a successful business leader, integrating his values of balance, fairness, and transparency into his company operations. The conversation delves into his experience with setting up an employee profit sharing model, managing potential drawbacks, maintaining transparency, and setting eligibility criteria. Buffington also shares his passion for philanthropy and his vision of self-sustaining charities, demonstrating how his philanthropic work has positively influenced his business. The discussion provides valuable insights for leaders looking to incentivize their employees and create a positive impact through their business practices.

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Discussion Points

Rob Buffington shares his innovative business model of profit sharing
The mechanics and implications of an employee profit-sharing model
From aspiring pastor to successful business mogul
Setting eligibility criteria for profit sharing
Effects of profit sharing on Rob’s workforce
Philanthropy is key as a business owner
Self-sustaining charities and positive influence on business
Key learnings - developing confident leadership
How profit sharing increases trust and confidence
Potential drawbacks of profit sharing
3 Key Takeaways:
Confident leaders believe in stewardship
Confident leaders balance generosity and prudence
Confident leaders foster a sense of ownership and teamwork
Feel free to leave your feedback about the show

Resources:

Free Confident Leader Workbook Download

Rob Buffington LinkedIn

Rob Buffington FB

Gordian Staffi

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In this episode, Brendan speaks with global executive coach and author Aneace Haddad as he shares his insights on personal and professional growth, leadership, and transformation. Aneace discusses the ‘five-step framework for growth’, the importance of embracing change, and the power of detaching from labels and adopting a mindset shift. Aneace also explores the balance between control and empowerment in leadership, the role of vulnerability, and the importance of curiosity in personal transformation. The episode highlights the significance of a lighthearted approach and the willingness to step into the unknown for significant growth.

Aneace Haddad guides executives into their ‘Next Season of Excellence’. With over 1,800 hours of certified coaching experience, Haddad has impacted over 300 individual leaders and aided 100 teams to realize their full potential. His global experience spans 15 diverse industries including technology, banking, insurance, energy, mining, and manufacturing across ten countries.

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Discussion Points

Writing another book in fiction
Transformation - leaders must change with their team
Entering the path
A leader’s story about commitment to safety
Leaders must undergo transformation to lead change
Strength required to step into the unknown
The ‘beautiful abyss’
A leader’s story - overcoming the belief that he would die young, in order to move forward
Exploring the five-step framework for growth
Importance of a lighthearted approach to leadership journey
The role of vulnerability and courage in change
Detaching from labels and embracing mindset shift
Authenticity and rejecting labels
Balancing control and empowerment in leadership
Embracing curiosity for personal and professional growth
Harnessing the power of mind in change
Encouraging leaders to embrace personal transformation
Importance of laughter and lightness in leadership journey
What makes Aneace a confident leader

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In this episode, Brendan speaks with Jessica Weiss, Managing Consultant for Human Tribe Consulting and Training Company. Jess shares her insights on conducting effective interviews and leveraging behavioral-based questions. With many years of experience in the field, Jess emphasizes the importance of proper preparation and understanding an organization's culture and values when selecting the right candidate. Her expertise in combining mental and logistical preparations, as well as team involvement, allows her to provide valuable tips and strategies for leaders to improve their interviewing skills and ultimately make better hiring decisions. Tune in and transform your interviewing game with these valuable, proven methods.

Jess is a passionate coach and facilitator who thrives helping people and businesses meet their highest potential. Jess has connected with, and positively impacted a multitude of different businesses ranging from single entrepreneurs to global organisations. She is accredited in Clifton’s StrengthFinder, Hogan Personality Profiling, and Everything DiSC Workplace Behavioural Profiling. Some of the brands that Jess has worked with include ING, Harris Farm Markets, Terry White Chemmart, Virgin Active, Business Chicks, and Lendlease.

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Discussion Points

Importance of a solid interview process for leaders
Align hiring with the organization's current needs, culture and values
Properly prepare for interviews mentally and logistically
Know what you're looking for in a candidate
Involve your team in the hiring process
Use behavioral-based questions to assess candidates
Balance prepared questions and conversation flow
Be aware of silence during interviews
Create a suitable interview environment for candidates
Conduct quality reference checks during hiring
Tap into your network for valuable information
Document the recruitment process for consistency
Offer the job strategically and professionally
Post-interview considerations and follow-up
3 Key Takeaways:
Confident leaders prioritize a solid interview process
Confident leaders ask behavioral-based questions
Confident leaders trust their instincts while seek

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In this episode, Brendan welcomes Nina Sunday, Founder of Brain Power Training and host of the Manage Self, Lead Others podcast. With over 30 years of experience, she is a certified speaking professional and an expert in leadership development. Nina is passionate about helping new leaders avoid common mistakes, build thriving cultures, and foster growth within their teams.

You’ll hear Nina share her personal leadership journey and discuss common mistakes new leaders make. She emphasizes the importance of understanding the big picture of one's job, focusing on culture and results, and using performance coaching to build a thriving work environment. She also explores the dangers of micromanagement and laissez-faire leadership, the power of inviting team members' suggestions, and the importance of fostering camaraderie and managing technology use in the workplace.

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Discussion Points

Understand the big picture of your job and focus on culture
Build the capability of your team for better results
Regularly conduct one-on-one meetings with team members
Encourage innovation and ideas within your team
Avoid micromanagement and laissez-faire leadership styles
Use psychometric assessments to better understand team members
Implement effective management strategies for a productive environment
Foster camaraderie and manage technology use in the workplace
Address performance issues with socially sensitive language
Create a second curve by injecting something new into roles
Offer choice when introducing new initiatives
Harvest good ideas from your team and build capability
Learn from past leadership mistakes and grow
Use mistakes as learning opportunities for team members
Develop leadership skills through various roles and experiences
3 Key Takeaways:
Confident leaders build capability
Confident leaders explore innovation
Confident leaders own their self-development

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In this episode, Brendan speaks with Robert Jordan, leadership development expert and CEO of Interim Execs. Robert is the creator of the FABS leadership assessment, shares insights on the four dominant leadership styles - fixer, artist, builder, and strategist. He explains how exceptional leaders develop their unique processes, approaches, and systems over time and how individuals can leverage their dominant style while developing skills in other areas. The podcast also explores the leadership styles of high-profile figures like Elon Musk and Sheryl Sandberg and discusses the concept of "highest and best use of time" in fostering trust and collaboration within organizations.

InterimExecs matches top executives with companies around the world. Based on research with thousands of leaders and companies, Robert Jordan and Olivia Wagner wrote "Right Leader Right Time: Discover Your Leadership Style for a Winning Career and Company," and have launched the FABS Leadership Assessment, a free assessment at RightLeader.com, designed to help leaders and organizations perform better. Jordan also authored "How They Did It: Billion Dollar Insights from the Heart of America," and helped publish "Start With No," Jim Camp’s bestseller on negotiation.

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Discussion Points

Robert Jordan discusses FABS leadership assessment styles - FIxers, Artists, Builders, and Strategists
Fixers excel in problem-solving and turnaround situations
Artists create world-changing ideas and innovations
Builders focus on dominating markets and scaling businesses
Strategists lead at scale and lead complex organizations
Leadership styles can be applied across industries
Elon Musk's self-awareness and first principles thinking
Leaders develop their unique processes and systems
Leverage your dominant style while developing other skills
"Highest and best use of time" fosters trust
Blind spots in fixer-dominated leadership style
Artist leaders need to enroll others for success
Sheryl Sandberg's journey illustrates her strengths and passions
Confidence and self-awareness crucial for strategists
Trust in personal capabilities for early career professionals
3 Key Takeaways:
Confident leaders develop their leadership roadmap
Confident leaders understand their blind spots
Confident leaders act on self-assessments
Feel free to leave your feedback about the show

Resources (‘open in new tab’ in WP):

Robert J Jordan LinkedIn

Interim Execs

Interim Execs on Twitter

Interim Execs YouTube

Take the FABS Leadership Assessment

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Website

The Culture of Leadership YouTube Channel

The Culture of Leadership LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Podcast

The Culture of Leadership Facebook

The Culture of Leadership Instagram

The Culture of Leadership Twitter

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In this episode, Tim Garth and Dan Osborne, self-titled “podcountants” and hosts of the Two Drunk Accountants podcast, discuss their experiences as millennial leaders and share insights on leading millennials. They advise leaders to build a strong, sustainable culture that resonates with their millennial workforce and emphasize the importance of giving millennials a seat at the table. They also discuss the challenges of balancing freedom and safety for millennial employees, the potential downside of the environment in which millennials grew up, and their perspectives on the future of work.

Tim and Dan also run an accounting firm together, CATS Accountants. Two Drunk Accountants is a weekly podcast that dispels the myths and mysteries of running a small business over a lovely beverage. The show has over 100,000 listens and close to 200 episodes that have helped small businesses for three years.

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Discussion Points

Millennials seek inclusion, purpose, and freedom in leadership
Create strong cultures that resonate with millennial employees
Balance freedom and safety nets for millennial workers
Focus on purpose, satisfaction, and actual work
Encourage creativity and innovation in millennial employees
Align organizational values with millennial values
Provide flexibility, trust, and accountability in the workplace
Foster deep work and focus in millennials
Establish accountability systems for millennial workforce
Encourage millennials to set lifestyle KPIs
Create problem-solving and collaborative cultures
Recognize the value of different generations in the workplace
3 Key Takeaways:
Confident leaders prioritize purpose
Confident leaders embrace uniqueness
Confident leaders embrace remote working
Feel free to leave your feedback about the show

Resources

CATS Accountants Website

Tim Garth LinkedIn

Dan Osborne LinkedIn

Two Drunk Accountants LinkedIn

Two Drunk Accountants Podcast IG

CATS Accountants LinkedIn

CATS Accountants Instagram

CATS Link Tree

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Website

The Culture of Leadership YouTube Channel

The Culture of Leadership LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Podcast

The Culture of Leadership Facebook

The Culture of Leadership Instagram

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The Culture of Leadership podcast has reached quite a milestone – our 100th episode!

Joining today’s episode 100 is Dr. Christopher Avery, Founder and CEO of The Responsibility Company, one of the go-to organizations for executive leadership development and change management training. They have been in business for over 30 years. What makes them different is they teach their clients The Responsibility Process, a unique and thoroughly researched approach to teamwork and leadership, which they can use to lead themselves and others to results that matter. The Responsibility Process has been used by leaders at top companies, including Microsoft, Whole Foods Market, Verizon, PayPal, eBay, and Wells Fargo.

Dr. Avery is the author of Teamwork Is An Individual Skill, which shows readers how to develop skills that will enable them to thrive in any team and under any circumstances, and The Responsibility Process: Unlocking Your Natural Ability to Live and Lead with Power.

You’ll hear what Dr. Avery means by “Capital R” responsibility is, how society actually rewards shame and obligation, how to confront your own brain (and others) as it goes through different levels of labeling, blame, shame etc., and how you can refuse to cooperate with your old coping mechanisms that trap you and make you feel like a victim.

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Discussion Points

What is responsibility and why is it so important?
What does “not taking responsibility” look like?
The mental states of: labeling, blame, justify, shame, obligation
Society rewards shame and obligation as “being responsible” - how can one counteract that?
Intention, awareness, and confront are the three keys to responsibility
Everyone gets stuck in different spots
Leaders should be responsible and take responsibility
Becoming a more confident leader -
3 Key Takeaways:
Confident leaders practice responsibility with the capital R
Confident leaders develop their consciousness
Confident leaders take ownership
Feel free to leave your feedback about the show

Resources (‘open in new tab’ in WP):

The Responsibility Company

Dr. Christopher Avery LinkedIn

Responsibility Company on Twitter

Responsibility Company on Facebook

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Website

The Culture of Leadership YouTube Channel

The Culture of Leadership LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Podcast

The Culture of Leadership Facebook

The Culture of Leadership Instagram

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership, or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Today’s guest is Colleen Doyle Bryant, a ‘Common Decency Expert’ and author of five books and more than 50 learning resources about character and values. Her latest book, Rooted in Decency, her first book for an adult audience, looks at the decline in common decency in society and ways that we can build more trust and cooperation. The book looks at why America’s divisive culture is damaging common decency, and how society can get to a shared set of values that promotes cooperation and trust. Colleen has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Duke University.

You’ll hear what a moral compass is, how your moral compass’ values are expressed or inform your actions, and how leaders can look within themselves and their company cultures to straighten or adjust their leadership styles and exhibit or lead with common human decency in their everyday actions.

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Discussion Points

Colleen's kids grew up in the always-feel-good parenting era
Rooted in Decency, the book
What is a moral compass? Do we all have one?
Understanding your moral compass- personal, corporate and moral
Truth, respect, responsibility and compassion
Truth - sacrificing accuracy for good intent - is it responsible?
Compassion - inclusion, fairness and equality
The ‘continuum’ of values
Moral disgust vs. moral absolutes - evolution in the last 30 years
Leaders - respect and responsibility
Common decency at work
Colleen’s biggest career/leadership impact
3 Key Takeaways:
Confident leaders lead with a strong moral compass
Confident leaders prioritize human-to-human connection
Confident leaders foster open dialogue and trust
Feel free to leave your feedback about the show

Resources (‘open in new tab’ in WP):

Colleen Doyle Bryant Website

Colleen Doyle Bryant Instagram

Colleen Doyle Bryant LinkedIn

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Website

The Culture of Leadership YouTube Channel

The Culture of Leadership LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Podcast

The Culture of Leadership Facebook

The Culture of Leadership Instagram

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Today’s guest is Jem Bourouh, Investor, eCommerce industry leader, keynote speaker, and founder of AdCubator. Jem shares his five leadership lessons for running his business, supported with examples, and discusses traveling, moving, and living in different countries around the world to learn all he can from people with other viewpoints. Even though he is very young, he feels he’s got valuable experience to share with our listeners.

Jem Bourouh is a 24-year-old serial entrepreneur from Germany. With his Google Ads agency Adcubator, Jem and his team have spent more than $318M profitably. After being in the DTC space for more than 4 years, he's decided to not only bootstrap his own ecommerce brands, but also to invest and acquire other businesses such as marketing agencies and additional ecommerce brands.

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Discussion Points

Why people should listen to Jem
The drive to create a business began with money but became a way to leave an impact
Jem’s Top Five Leadership Lessons
IQ and EQ
Feedback culture is critical
If you’re not growing, you’re dying
Culture is king
Being a role model for the team
Moving/living around the world, conquering fears, being open to new people and ideas
Personal development
How Jem hopes to hear teams discuss the company culture, what he sees on their IG
The term “family” and why it’s important
Boundaries with customer/client requests
Confidence, growth, and reflections
3 Key Takeaways:
Confident leaders nurture a feedback environment
Confident leaders emphasize the importance of culture
Confident leaders are positive role models
Feel free to leave your feedback about the show

Resources:

Book: Psycho- Cybernetics

Jem’s Social Media Links

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Website

The Culture of Leadership YouTube Channel

The Culture of Leadership LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Podcast

The Culture of Leadership Facebook

The Culture of Leadership Instagram

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In this episode, I welcome Bretton Putter, CEO of CultureGene, back to the podcast for his second appearance. Bretton shares his expertise on how leaders can successfully navigate hybrid work post-pandemic by focusing on collaboration, people management, and team culture.

Brett discusses the importance of maintaining a strong company culture in a hybrid environment, the key elements of effective hybrid team management and the tools and techniques leaders can use to stay connected with their teams and ensure productivity and engagement.

Brett Putter has been consulted by companies and leaders worldwide on how to design, build and develop a strong, functional company culture. He is the creator of Managing Hybrid Work, an online video course, and has authored two books, Culture Decks Decoded and Own Your Culture: How to Define, Embed and Manage your Company Culture. Prior to founding CultureGene Brett ran an international executive search firm working with high-growth tech companies to expand their executive teams across Europe and the USA. He writes a popular blog on culture-driven companies and is a sought-after speaker.

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Discussion Points

Remote and hybrid work is not going well at a lot of companies
Gallup research - data from 8000 hybrid/remote respondents
The effects on company culture pre, during, and post-pandemic
C-Suite leaders have a responsibility to direct and partner with HR
Three key elements of hybrid work culture:
Collaboration
People management
Team Culture
Five types of personas in the workforce now:
Doesn’t want to be in the office
Wants to be in the office
Moved out of the city and doesn’t want to commute
Wants to travel/commute
Has children and wants to come into the office around that
Fulfilling business needs in the hybrid environment
95% of workers want to do grow and develop and succeed
Finding the first steps to successful hybrid leadership
Leaders who prefer to be in the office are often micromanagers, dictators, or “big voice/big personality” leaders - and they’re becoming irrelevant
Bretton’s book outlines 9 remote work best practices
Collaborative processes across in-office and remote environments
Employee personas that succeed in a hybrid/remote environment
Building social capital
Balancing the key elements of hybrid culture
Elements of the CultureGene course
3 Key Takeaways:
Confident leaders know flexibility is critical for successful hybrid work
Confident leaders understand the three key elements of hybrid work
Confident leaders understand their leadership style
Feel free to leave your feedback about the show

Resources:

Hybrid work culture course 50% discount with HYBRID50

Book: Own Your Culture

Bretton Putter LinkedIn

Email Brett

Culture Gene

Culture Gene LinkedIn

Bretton Putter Twitter

Edgar Schein

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Website

The Culture of Leadership YouTube Channel

The Culture of Leadership LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Podcast

The Culture of Leadership Facebook

The Culture of Leadership Instagram

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Statistically, very few people have had the type of life-changing event that you’ll hear today’s guest talk about. Speaker and filmmaker Brett Connellan, of Honest Boys Productions, joins the podcast to talk about being attacked by a shark on his surfboard, nearly losing his life, his second chance, and what he's doing with it.

You’ll hear Brett describe his surf-obsessed life before the attack, the incredible story of what happened on that fateful day in 2016, his realizations and goal-setting after the attack, the lessons he learned through his recovery, his challenging path conquering his fears around getting back in the water, and how he found his purpose helping others by telling his story.

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Discussion Points

“Before” Brett’s life-changing moment in 2016 - surfing was everything in his life
The moment of attack, the escape, and the aftermath - set Brett on a new course
Loneliness and isolation in the hospital
The doctor’s prognosis vs. his physiotherapist Scott’s ambitious goals for Brett’s life
Brett’s competitive and ambitious personality as a surfer helped his recovery
Advice from a fellow injured surfer - tiny gains each day are enough
Shooting the documentary in Hawaii - the sweet/sour/banana of the day
Advice for people who experience life-altering events - it’s not about what happens, it's how you respond
Having an impact speaking to groups and a new focus on mental health
Making the documentary - purpose vs goals
The greatest lesson - having a reason for your daily actions
Paddling across the 2000ft+ deep Hawaiian channel
Conquering fears - both irrational and realistic
Good stories inspire Brett
Looking into 2023 - growth, the documentary, and a tv pilot
3 Key Takeaways:
Leaders set lofty goals
Leaders concentrate on the little things
Leaders know circumstances don’t define them

Resources:

Attacking Life Documentary

Brett Connellan Website

Brett Connellan Instagram

Brett Connellan LinkedIn

Brett Connellan Youtube

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Website

The Culture of Leadership YouTube Channel

The Culture of Leadership LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Podcast

The Culture of Leadership Facebook

The Culture of Leadership Instagram

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In this episode, my guest is world-renowned empowerment coach Donna P. Dahl, M.Ed.. Donna is the Chief Empowerment Officer of Donna Dahl Empowerment Coaching International. She’s a leading executive strategist who employs neuroscience-based coaching to disseminate skill development, empowerment, and engagement. She was named to the 2022 Top 20 List of Empowerment Coaches in the world and her work as a coach is being highlighted in a variety of publications online and in print. She is the author of several books including Lessons I Learned from the Tortoise, a five-star rated book designed to challenge the reader to consider mindful change.

You’ll hear Donna explain enthusiasm (which she defines as “Christmas pudding” with lots of different things in it), she discusses enthusiasm in a work environment and how it can be both positive and negative (if it’s not authentic), she shares some personal stories around the topic, relating to her role as a coach, and her “100% success rate.”

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Discussion Points

Donna’s interest in enthusiasm - it’s personal for everyone
Dealing with enthusiasm as a leader
Passion vs. Enthusiasm
Can enthusiasm be taught? It can definitely be faked.
Measuring, quantifying, encouraging and developing enthusiasm
The recovery from a serious car accident - more compassion was a result
Successful outcomes from Donna’s coaching
Defining enthusiasm - “It’s like Christmas pudding.”
Enthusiasm and high performance
Positive feedback has made Donna a confident leader
3 Key Takeaways:
Leaders choose enthusiasm over apathy
Leaders have weekly performance one-on-ones
Leaders generate enthusiasm in others

Resources:

Donna Dahl Website

Email Donna

Learn More and book an Appointment with Donna

Donna Dahl LinkedIn

Donna Dahl Twitter

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Website

The Culture of Leadership YouTube Channel

The Culture of Leadership LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Podcast

The Culture of Leadership Facebook

The Culture of Leadership Instagram

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Most people live a life filled with regrets. Boldness is the solution, and fortunately, boldness can be learned. Today’s guest is Fred Joyal, CEO of TruBlu Social Smiles, a video testimonial platform. Fred is a bestselling author, international speaker, and entrepreneur. He co-founded the most successful dentist referral service in the country, 1-800-DENTIST. His latest […]

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In this episode, Brendan and producer Marc Charette review the top ten takeaways from all our fascinating guest interviews of 2022.

Every one of our top takeaways focuses on experiences, both good and bad, and touches on the most important behaviors and qualities that make excellent leaders. Being deliberate, observing, listening, being intentional, authentic, and accountable, making tough but fair decisions - each one of our guests over the last year left us with invaluable stories based on their personal journeys that we can all benefit from. We recommend going back and listening to the episodes that pique your interest. We’re excited to bring you many more valuable podcast episodes in 2023 to help build confident leaders around the globe.

Tune in and subscribe to future episodes of The Culture of Leadership.

Discussion Points

1 Leaders lead themselves first - your relationship with yourself (Episode 84 Matty Elliot)
2 Leaders lead with purpose- taking deliberate steps (Episode 81 Alex Lee)
3 Leaders ask for help - it’s a mindset (Episode 74 Ethan Holland)
4 Leaders have genuine conversations - intent creates opportunity (Episode 68 Gloria Tabi)
5 Leaders create a feedback culture - being deliberate about asking for feedback (Episode 80 Leisa Molloy)
6 Leaders make time to observe culture - take time to observe people in their environment (Episode 89 Matt Kelly)
7 Leaders focus on clarity over certainty - get clarity on next steps even though the future is uncertain (Episode 72 Scott Farlow)
8 Leaders focus on high-value activities - do what you are an expert at, and provide value for your organizations (Episode 77 David Meerman Scott)
9 Leaders choose accountability over popularity - make the tough decisions, set clear expectations, be fair (Episode 86 Dan Cockerell)
10 Leaders learn from their experiences - both failures and successes (Episode 67 Taras Kobernyk)
Why not earmark a few of our episodes to review throughout the year to improve your leadership skills?

Resources:

Marc Charette LinkedIn

Marc Charette Website

Central Coast Digital Media

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

Brendan Rogers Website

The Culture of Leadership YouTube Channel

The Culture of Leadership LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Website

The Culture of Leadership Facebook

The Culture of Leadership Instagram

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In this episode, Brendan is interviewed by producer Marc Charette about challenges being faced by leaders as we enter 2023. You’ll hear Brendan’s take on the new normal of the working environment, and finding and retaining great employees. The changes that Covid forced into reality continue to challenge leaders around the globe. Establishing your […]

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Today’s guest is Hailley Griffis, Head of Communications and Content at Buffer, a social media management software aimed at helping creators and small businesses build their brands. For years now, Buffer has operated as a totally “transparent” organization. Internally, employees have visibility into everything the company does, and what other departments are doing, and every employee’s work is open to their teammates for comments, assistance, and feedback. Externally, the company publishes all its financials including revenue and employee salaries for anyone to see.

Hailley takes us through Buffer’s processes and gives some tips and tricks for creating a transparent environment in your own workplace. It has to start from the top. She also shares how transparency has carried over into her personal life and the pros and cons she has found in being transparent with her friends and family.

Hailley Griffis is also the co-host of MakeWorkWork, a podcast about career growth, creative work, and striving to be better. Originally from Canada, she now lives near Nashville, Tennessee with her family and their various pets. When she’s not on the internet, Hailley spends her time reading fiction, making vegan desserts, and doing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Stay tuned for future episodes of The Culture of Leadership!

Discussion Points

Transparency at Buffer
Who thrives in that environment?
Risks of transparency - privacy
Finding the right people to work in a transparent environment
A day in the life of a transparent leader
Trust, vulnerability, and transparency
Can you be too transparent?
Remote work vs. in-person communication and transparency
PR and trust in sharing information
Mentoring young leaders in the art of transparency
Documentation is key
Transparency in your personal life- the pros and cons
Hailley's summary of transparent leadership
Where to start in your own organization - it has to start at the top
It takes some extra steps to be fully transparent and have people be able to understand the information
Becoming a more confident leader - own up to mistakes, learn from others
Three Key Takeaways:
Leaders lead with transparency
Leaders know transparency requires patience and persistence
Leaders listen to their team

Resources:

Buffer Website

Buffer on Twitter

Buffer on Instagram

Elpha Website - published salaries

Hailley on Twitter

Hailley Griffis Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

Brendan Rogers Website

The Culture of Leadership YouTube Channel

The Culture of Leadership LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Website

The Culture of Leadership Facebook

The Culture of Leadership Instagram

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Video messaging and content are the new normal. Think about what you see every day as you scroll through your smartphone apps. This isn’t “the new direction” - it’s already here.

I’m joined today by Julian Mather, a man who has seen the world through many lenses. Through a telescopic sight as an army sniper. Through the TV lens as a globe-trotting cameraman for ABCTV, National Geographic, and BBC. Through smoke and mirrors as a professional magician. And now Julian is an accomplished author, public speaker, and video content creator.

Julian shares his simple tips and tricks for overcoming your fear of video, giving you the exact steps to take to become a competent video presenter in no time at all. Tune in to hear inspirational stories and examples of Julian’s struggles to become a video presenter and speaker himself. Even the most humble person can overcome their fear of the camera or the sound of their own voice – and truly shine with confidence. What’s stopping you from becoming fearless and famous?

Stay tuned for future episodes of The Culture of Leadership!

Discussion Points

Video is the new reading
Legacy, AI, and ‘new video’ formats
Video illiterate leaders vs. those who are really making an impact with video
If you show up with some humility and vulnerability, with helpful content, you’ll do well
Stand firm, be clear, and be yourself
Authenticity - are you the same on video as you are if someone met you in the street?
Matt Church and his 4 levels of commitment
Status vs public humiliation
“Fix nervous with service”
How and where can you start with video? Start with the Loom app and your phone
Receiving helpful criticism or feedback
Start by doing 5-10 “Thank you” videos to people you know– to practice
SMART videos- Simple, relevant, personal, meaningful, tight, and short
Three reasons to start doing video – Gen Z video natives, personal satisfaction, cost-effectiveness
TikTok– it’s not just dance videos
Are you making videos? Your competitors are….
Being a better leader - help your audience
Three Key Takeaways:
Leaders make SMART videos
Leaders fix nervous with service
Leaders use video to increase their impact.
What action will you take to unleash your inner video star and become a more confident leader?

Resources:

Julian Mather Website

Julian Mather LinkedIn

Julian Mather Facebook

Email Julian Mather

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

Brendan Rogers Website

The Culture of Leadership YouTube Channel

The Culture of Leadership LinkedIn

The Culture of Leadership Website

The Culture of Leadership Facebook

The Culture of Leadership Instagram

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Video messaging and content are the new normal. Think about what you see every day as you scroll through your smartphone apps. This isn’t “the new direction” – it’s already here. I’m joined today by Julian Mather, a man who has seen the world through many lenses. Through a telescopic sight as an army […]

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Welcome to the first episode of The Culture of Leadership. I’m joined today by Matt Kelly, Head of Regional Operations North for Healthe Care. Matt started his career in health as a registered nurse working in Newcastle and the UK. He has worked in Intensive Care Units around Sydney in both clinical and management roles, before moving into executive roles in the public and private sectors across Australia.

Tune in to hear inspirational stories and examples of how Matt’s hospital group, (with nearly 700 team members across the country), and Matt as a leader, creates and cultivates culture, trust and transparency, and promotes the organisation’s values and best practices. Matt is passionate about not just “patient-centered care” but “person-centered care” and the use of values to drive the culture of an organisation. The Healthe Care organization of hospitals promotes empathy and compassion for staff and patients, to ensure the best experience for all.

In 2019 Matt was the first Australian invited to speak at the worlds leading Patient Experience Summit held by Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. In 2018 and 2019 he was named Business Leader of the Year by the Gosford/ Erina and Coastal Chamber of Commerce, the Central Coast Regional Business Leader of the year in 2019, and the NSW Business Leader of the Year by the NSW Business Chamber in 2019.

Stay tuned for future episodes of The Culture of Leadership!

Discussion Points

Trust and culture change - “The Triangle of T”
Matt’s definition of culture
Showing Brendan around the hospital and explaining their values
Matt’s early days of training as a nurse - as CEO he knew what he was talking about
Observing the culture at Matt’s 8 different hospital environments
Reward and recognition feels different for everyone - being able to choose is important
Not just “Patient-centered care” but “person-centered care”
The 5 Values across 17 hospitals:
Best Practice
Best Experience
Respect
It’s Personal
Positive Energy
Creating your organisation’s values - be persistently consistent
Using the WorkPlace platform for the internal teams
Teambuilding and transparency

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In today’s episode, the tables are turned on host Brendan Rogers as he is interviewed by producer Marc Charette about the future of The Culture of Things podcast. Brendan’s interviews so often center around the essentials of building leadership. It is this focus that is driving a pivot in the focus of the […]

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My guest today is Gary De Rodriguez, CEO of Peopleistic. Recognized as an internationally acclaimed expert in the science of human excellence and known as the People Mechanic, Gary De Rodriguez has had over 35 years of experience in designing and integrating the most influential models of psychology-based systems of success in leadership, human behavior, relationships, communication, and team dynamics.

Gary has trained and studied with Indian mystics, a Lakota medicine woman, and the Aboriginal law keeper for all the tribes of Western Australia, the Kahunas of the Hawaiian Islands, and the Incan shamans of Peru. He has privately coached over 11,600 people worldwide and is internationally recognized as the go-to person for personal and professional breakthroughs.

You’ll hear about Gary’s personal breakthrough after a Donovan concert, his own experiences with generational trauma, how trauma (and perceived trauma) manifests in the body and mind, and how leaders need to dig deep enough to resolve their own unconscious belief systems that may be holding them back from becoming respected, successful leaders of their organizations.

Discussion Points

Gary changed his life after a transformational Donovan concert
Unresolved generational trauma, anchoring love to pain and abandonment
The AIDS crisis, rebirthing, hypnosis, and neurolinguistic programming
Creating a sanctuary at the workplace - starts with leadership
Values are often unconscious
Coaching often doesn’t dive deep enough to resolve your trauma
Every organ has an emotion attached to it, and early emotional trauma can lead to diseases
The Reticular Activating System (RAS)
Unraveling your unconscious trauma or perceived trauma
There is more information now in the world about unpacking your subconscious than ever before
If a leader is not respected, they become ineffectual
Success patterns for top performers in any position - testing for a percentage match in new hires
7 qualities assessed in success patterns
Hidden triggers for leaders that they must address for success
A success story - Gary’s coaching of an Aussie company
Objections from people when using these tools - some people don’t care enough, they’re disillusioned or angry

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Are you holding yourself, your employees, and the company “accountable?” Are you “fair but firm?” My guest today is Dan Cockerell, former Vice-President of the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, Florida, and now a keynote speaker and executive coach. Join us for an intriguing discussion about the concept of accountability. It takes courage to […]

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https://youtu.be/92ipwtHMoyE Have you ever started a job and felt like you were thrown into the deep end all by yourself, or that you were “drinking from a fire hose” and the process was completely overwhelming and negative? Marc Reifenrath, CEO of Spinutech, wants to make sure that never happens to his new hires. […]

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If you can’t lead yourself, how are you going to lead anyone else? This is the core tenet behind former NRL Head Coach Matty Elliot’s “The Change Room.” Combining his background, education, and qualifications -a Bachelor of Applied Science (Exercise and Sports Science), performance coaching experience, and extensive research into well-being, Matt has […]

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“If leaders don’t understand how the human brain works and how people perceive information, they’ll struggle.”

That’s a quote from today’s guest, Phill Agnew. Phill is Sr. Product Marketer at Buffer, product marketing ambassador at the PMA, and host of Nudge, the only podcast dedicated to consumer psychology. Phill specializes in consumer behavior, looking specifically at how to apply behavioral science at each stage of the marketing funnel.

Phill shares a wealth of knowledge with us about how consumer (human) behaviors can be influenced, with a focus on how leaders can use this psychology to improve productivity and job satisfaction within their teams.

We’ll talk about basic psychological tenets such as loss aversion, anchoring, autonomy, purpose, mastery and scarcity when “nudging” people to make decisions or improve their performance. Phill quotes multiple evidence-based studies and talks about his favorite leaders (like Steve Jobs) and other notable public figures, authors, and scientists who have used these basic theories to influence others.

Discussion Points

How applied behavior science is important in marketing
What Phill finds so fascinating – there’s evidence that it all works
Applying the science to leadership - Steve Jobs as a case study
The Google cafeteria– manipulation or nudge?
Competent and showing a weakness - the ultimate combination
Can nudges make us do things we don’t want to do? The Milgrim experiment
How leaders can improve teams - Autonomy, purpose and mastery
Timing is critical for nudging underperformers - NBA basketball stats
Using scarcity – the chips story
How loss feels worse to people than the equivalent gain
Loss aversion
Leaders much educate themselves on the power of their influence: books by Cialdini, Pink, and Phill’s free marketing course
Phill’s greatest influences
My key takeaways:
Leaders understand their influence
Leaders are likable
Leaders motivate people
Let me know your thoughts about this interview on my socials

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Daniel Gaebler has an ambitious five-year goal – to reduce the number of suicides in Australia to zero.

Dan is a Sydney plumber and has written a book “The Centred Tradie” about facing his inner demons and mental illness. Dan writes about confronting life events, and his mental health journey, and exposes his own extreme vulnerability in order to “help just one person”. The book will speak loudest to men, especially in the trades (like plumbing), and encourage them to reach out to their friends and family, or different modalities of therapists, to help them get back on track and make life better for themselves and their loved ones.

I speak with Dan about how he recognized that he needed help, where trauma originates and how it can manifest later in life, the impact that poor mental health and suicide have on loved ones and communities in general, and the many people - therapists, coaches, mentors, and his wife - that helped Dan along his journey.

Discussion Points

Dan’s first signs that he needed help
Rage, trauma, and frustration as a teen
Connecting with others, taking the first step to getting help
Writing a book had tremendous healing power
Love languages, Dan’s wife, and overcoming trauma
Mental health in business - examples of helping team members
Things you can do to improve your mental health
Simple things we can do right now? Notice, listen, and ask, “Are you okay?”
Being a keynote speaker
The best thing we can do is to TALK about mental health, suicide, and how to help
The people who have had the greatest impact on Dan’s life and leadership
Five things you can do to get through a mental health crisis:
Connect with people
Be active
Learn new skills
Give to others
Be present/mindfulness
My key takeaways:
Leaders know the power of connection
Leaders have the courage to share their challenges
Leaders drive imp

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Alex Lee sees purpose as, “The ‘why’s’ and the drive behind everything you do.” It takes some courage to follow your passion and find your purpose. Are you leading a purpose-driven life?

Alex Lee is currently the CEO of The Glen, a residential Aboriginal Therapeutic Community for men and women experiencing alcohol and drug dependence. Located on the Central Coast of New South Wales, The Glen sits on pristine bushland, which clients describe as calming and tranquil. The Glen’s programs are designed to treat clients holistically to address their issues, treating the person as a whole (spiritually, mentally, and physically). Indigenous values are adopted throughout The Glen’s program, evident through the strength-based approach which shows clients what they can do, not what they can’t do.

In this episode, we’ll talk about Alex’s dark days during his teen years - including the pivotal point when he called a kids hotline for help - that started him on a long history of volunteerism. From taking career breaks to help those living in detention centers off the coast of Australia, to working in Thailand, to helping his mom, Alex has a quiet way about him that hides a deep well of determination, perseverance, and most of all, a simple desire to help others avoid pain and suffering.

Discussion Points

Intro and background
Alex Lee’s definition of purpose
Dark days in Alex’s teen years led him to his purpose
Some of the hardest times were trying to motivate volunteers to find their "why"
Heidi, Alex’s mom, showed him how to see the “other side” of people, like those experiencing homelessness
Financial background and KPMG experience
Having a supportive network helps Alex find courage for his purpose
Helping others is as simple as helping them see their strengths and abilities
How The Glen got its name
Deciding who gets into The Glen– safety first
Alex’s pride in The Glen’s leadership team and their abilities
It’s all about changing your mindset because that’s something you CAN control
Alex’s running and marathons - 10 marathons, 10 days, each under 4 hours!
Reducing barriers to volunteering may help more volunteers in AU
What do you want to be said in your eulogy? What legacy do you want to leave behind?
Alex’s greatest ment

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Have you received feedback from a leader that was vague, wishy-washy, or perhaps really harsh? Were you upset, confused, or hurt by what they told you? There are good and bad ways to deliver feedback to team members or employees.

My guest today is Leisa Molloy, a workplace psychologist, consultant, coach, and founder of Flourishing Minds Consulting. Flourishing Minds is a boutique organizational psychology consulting firm that specializes in helping organizations, leaders, and teams to build stronger levels of leadership capability, alignment, trust, clarity, and psychological safety.

Leisa has spent more than 17 years helping leaders navigate important workplace conversations. In this episode, we speak about the three different types of feedback, what a good and bad feedback conversation looks like, how to prepare for a feedback conversation, and the very real risks of providing vague or ineffective feedback. Leisa also shares a step-by-step process that will help you immensely the next time you’re required to give feedback to one of your team members.

Discussion Points

The worst kind of feedback is that which is never given!
Poor/ineffective feedback is vague, wishy-washy, or uses generic cliches like “you should be more strategic”
Types of feedback:
Appreciative
Constructive/coaching
Evaluative against deliverables/roles
How appreciative feedback can go wrong
Types of appreciative feedback:
Meeting your goals
Your good attitude
Your great personal qualities
Where responsibility lies for providing feedback
The intent vs. the impact of feedback
Conflict debt– issues not addressed build tension, impact teams
Setting precedent right away with new hires/team members
Asking open-ended questions - should be “what” and “how” not “why”
Taking the heat out of feedback sessions– give options, come back tomorrow, sit with it
What happens next after feedback?
Communicating feedback over digital platforms is not advised
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There is a very simple, easy way to differentiate yourself in this highly competitive world, whatever industry you work in: incorporate strict ethical standards into every aspect of your business (and personal) relationships. Are you trustworthy, loyal, and fair? Do you reveal conflicts of interest? Do independent research? Do you continually learn and improve? These are some of the ten components of ethical business and leadership that Dr. Andrew Stotz tells us about in today’s episode.

Andrew Stotz is a former president of the Chartered Financial Analyst Society of Thailand and is one of Thailand’s award-winning equity analysts. He’s also the founder and CEO of A.Stotz Investment Research. He's an author, a university lecturer, and co-founder of CoffeeWORKS, Thailand’s specialty coffee roaster. Andrew is the host of ‘My Worst Investment Ever’ podcast, with 555 episodes and counting. He is also now the new host of the Deming Institute podcast called, “In Their Own Words.”

Join us for a discussion around the ten ethics that Andrew stands for, and how you can easily adopt them in your own life – in order to become a rare and valuable member of any team, family, group, or society. We’ll also discuss some of the major differences in Eastern vs. Western culture, with regard to ethics, corruption, and general business practices.

Discussion Points

Andrew’s background and many business ventures
The Five Ethics in relationships:
Loyal
Trustworthy
Fair
Confidentiality
Revealing conflicts of interest
Andrew’s parents led by example
Asian families - close physically/helping each other, but not open emotionally
Different cultures east/west consider different things to be unethical/corrupt
The Five Ethics in your work:
Diligence
Independent thought
Objectivity
Thoroughness
Continual Improvement/Learning
The Econ 101 professor who lit a fire under Andrew
My key takeaways:
Leaders are ethical in their interaction with others

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Barnaby Howarth has faced more than his share of tragic experiences in life. From being diagnosed with diabetes at 14, to suffering a torn cerebral artery in a gang fight (and having a stroke 7 days later) to losing his first wife to breast cancer shortly after their honeymoon, to choosing to have his finger amputated because it was hindering his daily life, Barnaby has not had it easy. But as he tells it, being an everyday “Joe Bag O’Doughnuts” IS enough, doing the best you can day to day IS enough. Being a regular person who tries to put “small good” out in the world is all you have to do to live your best life.

As a former AFL player for the Sydney Swans, the host of the “Everyday Greatness” podcast, and sought-after public speaker, Barnaby doesn’t just TELL an interesting story – he is living one.

Discussion Points

Why and how do you use the term “Joe Bag O’Doughnuts”?
Some of Barnaby’s early stories around the AFL
The gang fight and his friends– and subsequent stroke
The tiny exercises that seemed ridiculous - moving paper clips and clenching buns
The challenges Barnaby has to live with forever because of the stroke
Good things/bad things happening to people has no logic
Losing his first wife Angela to breast cancer
How to move on after the loss
What’s the buzz you get from public speaking?
Choosing to have his finger amputated
Chemism and their work helping the disabled find work
Parents, parenthood, and being present for people in your life
How are you proud of yourself?
My key takeaways:
Leaders do their best all the time
Leaders do the small things well
Leaders forgive
Contact me with questions or comments

Resources:

Barnaby Howarth Website

Barnaby Howarth Instagram

Barnaby Howarth LinkedIn

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If you think you see patterns in the universe that no one else is seeing, it may be your time to write that book or start that company - according to David Meerman Scott. David is a marketing strategist, entrepreneur, investor, and advisor to emerging companies, and bestselling author of 12 books, including "Fanocracy" and now in its eighth edition, "The New Rules of Marketing & PR."

David has had a fascinating path to his current success. From being a “gaijin” (foreign) male model in Tokyo to being the last person to photograph Bob Marley in concert, David is big into surfing, seeing live rock shows (he has kept a spreadsheet since age 15!), and NASA.

As a professional coach and speaker, he teaches people how to use new real-time strategies to spread ideas, influence minds, and build businesses. In this episode, I’ll talk with David about his theories and beliefs around passion, connection, and intensity, and his latest views on digital marketing. From the first social network created by the Grateful Dead to the transparent marketing strategies of businesses like Grain Surfboards and NASA moon travel, David has a lot to say about marketing your business and how it has changed through the years.

Discussion Points

David’s early years
How David came to be in marketing
Seeing patterns in the universe that no one else saw
Holding on to your passion and convictions
Grain surfboards, the Grateful Dead, Bob Marley, and NASA
These marketing strategies can be in any industry
Hubspot’s B2B marketing
David’s marketing advice
Choose the right social platforms – where is your audience? Do you enjoy it?
Passion, connection, and intensity
The Grateful Dead and their uniqueness– music and marketing
Twitter and access to the elites in any field
AI and machine learning in marketing
Your biggest impact? Blogger/marketer Seth Godin
My key takeaways:
Leaders think and understand quickly
Leaders are passionate about everything they do
Leaders focus on high-value activities
Contact me with questions or co

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When I saw some of Danyal Diallo’s public speaking and stand-up comedy, I knew I wanted to have him on the show. Danyal Diallo is an inspiring young man. He is currently a public speaking and leadership coach and focuses his life on nurturing and “growing his greatness” so he can have a big impact and make a difference in the world.

Danyal has youthful energy, initiative, and self-confidence. He started a business when he was 16, developed his public speaking skills to become a Platinum Speaker, he's done a TEDx presentation titled 'Breaking the Stereotypes', been a Youth Leader and Mentor for African youth, and has now moved from Melbourne to Canberra to take up an opportunity to work within a government sector.

In our interview, we’ll talk about his cousin pushing him off a roof when he was only three, leaving him with a limp. He talks about the subsequent bullying and struggles during his formative years at school that led to his journey to working on his confidence and public speaking. Remember the name Danyal Diallo - considering he is only 19, I've got a feeling we'll be hearing about him for years to come.

Discussion Points

Why did you move to Canberra?
Where does your adventurous side come from?
Danyal is not Brendan’s typical guest
People that inspire Danyal
“Enjoy the Journey” - why is that part of your LinkedIn profile?
Looking back and not regretting life
The impact Danyal would like to have on others
What’s Danyal’s current purpose?
Stand-up comedy as a sub-section of public speaking
Small talk prevents you from learning about another person
The TEDx talk and breaking down Sudanese stereotypes
Danyal’s faith, the bible, and leadership
Sleeping without a pillow
My key takeaways:
Leaders try new things
Leaders understand the value of mentors
Leaders enjoy the journey
Don't choose to live with regret - life's too short for that!

Resources:

Danyal Diallo Facebook

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Geoff Quattromani has a standout summary on his LinkedIn profile: “My goal is to lead an IT department to be a trusted business partner by providing innovative solutions and technologies along with superior services that help organisations satisfy customers' needs in a consistent manner.”

When you hear Johnson & Johnson, you might immediately think of baby powder and tear-free baby shampoo, but there are actually three major divisions: consumer, pharmaceutical, and medical devices/tech. Think joint replacement implants and the surrounding medical technology, and that’s where Geoff does his work. As the Digital Transformation Manager for Johnson & Johnson’s Medical Technology division in Sydney, Geoff works toward his LinkedIn summary daily. I’ll talk with Geoff about his work at J&J, his side-hustle as a technology commentator for radio/tv/magazines, his podcast, “Technology Uncorked,” his family life, and more in this episode.

Discussion Points

Who is Geoff Quattromani, and what do you do at J&J?
Geoff’s early days, Malta, and his path to J&J
What is digital transformation, to you?
Geoff’s work in a small four-person team leading the Asia Pacific Region
Is it difficult to get your work done without any direct reports to delegate to?
Can you give us an example of things not going well, and how you dealt with it?
Simply having coffee with coworkers and colleagues (no work talk) is an invaluable way to build trust and relationships
Some of your biggest challenges in the last 7 years at J&J?
The difficulty of transforming from brochures and billboards to digital marketing
What would you change if you had a magic wand?
How is your work as a tech commentator different from your day job?
The coolest tech things were a Tesla and lawn mowing robot
Tech innovation vs. adoption
Messaging/sound byte worries within the tech commentator space
Geoff can say as much as he wants without limits on his podcast
Tell us about your MIT courses in digital transformation
Geoff explains what blockchain is, and what impact it can have in the future
Geoff tells leaders the risks

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Ethan Holland got to a desperate point in his addiction and said to himself, “I’m either going to kill myself… or ask for help.” Fortunately, he chose the latter.

Ethan started his recovery by asking his mom for help, and a few days later he was working toward sobriety at The Glen Centre, where he later became a valued staff member. Just a few days before our interview, Ethan was ready for the next stage in his life and left The Glen Centre to become a Community Impact Manager at The Indigenous Marathon Foundation (IMF.) Running and physical activity underpin all IMF programs and they are committed to providing social, inclusive, and fun environments for people to adopt active and healthy lifestyles.

The IMF is a program within the Indigenous Marathon Project (IMP) - established in 2009 by world marathon champion, Rob de Castella, and in 2010 four Indigenous Australians created history as the first to run in the world’s biggest marathon – the New York City Marathon. The continual growth and expansion of the IMP led to the establishment of the IMF in 2015 which covers four core programs:

The Indigenous Marathon Project (IMP)
Indigenous Communities for Activity and Nutrition (I-CAN)
FrontRunners (a Graduate specific program)
IMF Running and Walking Australia (IMF RAW)

Our talk today is an inspiring look back at Ethan’s journey from a ten-year addiction cycle, to being a proud representative and advocate for others, and ultimately becoming a marathon runner himself.

Discussion Points

Ethan’s early teen experiences drinking and partying
What were some of the triggers that made you drink?
A badly broken arm dashed Ethan’s dreams of sports
Western Sydney’s culture of drinking
The ups and downs of Ethan’s addiction
On January 8, 2018, Ethan finally asked for help
Experiences at The Glen Centre rehab for a 12-week program
Building a foundation of tools to rebuild self-worth
Ethan’s experience transitioning from client to staff at The Glen
An interest in running drew Ethan to the IMF
How do you inspire others?
Tell us about some of your tattoos…
My key takeaways:

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Have you ever been in a meeting and not spoken up because you thought your idea wasn’t good enough? Maybe you wanted to share something with a family member, friend, or partner and didn’t? You’ve MUTED yourself.

Today’s guest is Heather Hansen - author, TedX speaker, coach, and multi-cultural expert - Heather helps top global professionals show up, speak up, and inspire action in a changing world. She is on a mission to empower global voices to contribute to conversations that matter in business, politics, and life.

You live your values through your big life choices. Think back to the major crossroads in your life– deciding what school to attend, moving to a new country, or even getting divorced – the choices you made at those times were when you were truly “living your values.”

I talk with Heather (for an extensive interview) about that and more in today’s episode. From the high achieving culture of “you can be anything!” in the US, to Jante Law in Danish culture, to the cringe-worthy reverence for white westerners in Singapore’s residual colonialism, we’ll dig in to Heather’s journey, and find out about her fascinating new book “Unmuted.” Can the world afford NOT to hear YOUR voice?

Discussion Points

Where did your passion for communication come from?
The book “Unmuted” came about during the pandemic
The Venn diagram – Conscious/Connected/Confident
Some of Heather’s personal cultural challenges – Danish Jante Law, Singapore’s colonialism
Heather and her Danish husband’s personal cultural challenges
Is there a way to determine “what I stand for” with some actionable steps?
In the Venn diagram– which is most important?
The confidence area encompasses skills confidence and speaking confidence
What about the differences in male vs. female confidence?
The Innovisor method of surveying for a company’s influencers
3% of the most trusted employees influence 90% of other employees, and they’re not top management
What has had the greatest impact on your leadership journey?
Three key takeaways:
Leaders are conscious communicators
Leaders are confident communicators
Leaders are connected communicators

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It’s useful to look back on a period of great crisis and analyze what was done right, and what lessons can be gleaned from decisions that didn’t work out as planned. My guest today is Scott Farlow, and he is going to do just that – look back on the pandemic and the New South Wales government’s responses and how they worked or didn’t.

Scott Glynn Farlow is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since the 2015 NSW state election, representing the Liberal Party. Farlow grew up in Sydney's Inner Western suburbs. He was the first member of his family to study at university, graduating with degrees in Law and Commerce from the University of Sydney. He later graduated from the College of Law with a Diploma of Legal Practice.

In 2004 Farlow was elected to Strathfield City Council and became mayor in 2007. At the age of 23, Farlow was the youngest mayor in Australia at that time. Farlow was preselected by the Liberal Party to run as a candidate for the NSW Legislative Council at the March 2015 Election. He was subsequently elected and is serving an eight-year term set to expire in 2023.

In this episode, Scott and I will discuss how the pandemic unfolded in Australia in general, and New South Wales in particular. Farlow focuses on increasing efficiency and transparency in government expenditure, and we will hear about many of the governmental decisions he was privy to during the pandemic.

Discussion Points

Scott and his wife Penny had a “scrutineering” date in public
Scott takes us through his experiences in the early days of the pandemic March 2020
The playbook from countries like South Korea was helpful in the early months
What were your initial thoughts when asked to become the Parliamentary Secretary of Covid Recovery?
Was there one major decision you made that you’re proud of in retrospect?
Can you give us an example of using “clarity over certainty” in your role?
The decision to shut down construction work was major– can you tell us how that came about?
Why was such a “blanket approach” used throughout cities and regions?
Media– did it help or hinder?
Tell us why New South Wales has “got it” and can handle the next wave of the pandemic?
Do you have any government insight into certain businesses coming back, or failing, etc?
Any changes you’d like to see in government systems – local, state, or federal?
What are your thoughts about the ‘hidden costs’ or ‘shadow pandemic’ that are yet to be fully realized?<!--

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Have you ever declined to interview a candidate because they were over 40? Are you in the over 40 age group? Have you yourself been the victim of ageism in your job search?

In this episode, I’m joined by Toby Marshall, an “Ageism Warrior.” As Toby tells it in his frank and open manner, “Ageism is JUST DUMB.” From debunking four big myths about hiring mature workers, to the “hidden” discrimination behind those noble-sounding mission and vision statements on company walls, Toby fights daily to sound the alarm about age discrimination.

Ageism costs our communities major money – in Australia, the figure is somewhere between $600M to $1B annually in costs including lost taxpayers, paying out unemployment benefits, and even healthcare costs, as unemployed or underemployed people, can be depressed and in turn have a host of other health-related problems.

Take some time to look at your own prejudices against older individuals you encounter– at work, in your community, in the media- you might not even realize you are an ageist!

Discussion Points

When did you become so interested in fighting ageism?
Can you define ageism for us?
What is going through people’s heads when they refuse to hire mature candidates?
Have you yourself experienced ageism?
What do mature employees offer that younger people do not?
Debunking the 4 main myths of ageism:
Poor health/more sick days
Afraid of, or unable to grasp technology
Higher wages
Lack of innovation or creativity
Who is most responsible for age discrimination?
Some solutions for HR and frontline recruiters to consider to avoid ageism
Toby, what is one major lesson that has had an impact on your leadership?
Three key takeaways:
Leaders don’t subscribe to ageism
Leaders can laugh at themselves
Leaders do less talking, more listening

Resources:

Stable and Wise Website

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Today I’m speaking with Cassandra Gordon, founder of Growth Culture. Cassandra shares her vision of what leaders, companies, and workplaces need to do to evolve into thriving businesses with safe, happy employees. It’s not complicated, but the hierarchical old-school thinking that persists in our society is blocking these transformations.

Cassandra really walks the walk and talks the talk. Her own personal mantra of “respect, integrity, and justice” informs her leadership and everything she does in her day-to-day life. She shares her reliable, repeatable system for building a thriving culture that has five cornerstone elements: Creativity, Freedom, Purpose, Safety, and Diversity.

The sad thing is, “organization design” that continues to utilize those outdated hierarchies has not changed much in nearly 300 years. It takes courage, humility, and an open mind for leaders to change their organizations. Do you have what it takes to overhaul your business and start thriving?

Discussion Points

Tell us about your exciting work inside the PM &C?
Can you share one thing you loved, and one thing you did not, about working there?
When have your personal standards been compromised at work?
Why is it important for leaders to know exactly ‘what they stand for?’
Do you think enough change is happening today in Australia’s workforce?
You often use the word “thrive” – can you share what that looks like to you
Your tenets sound fantastic, why wouldn’t leaders choose to adopt them?
When determining a company culture, is it easier to work with founders/startups?
When a founder’s purpose is driven by financial goals, its extremely unhealthy for company culture
What does “Freedom” look like within a company’s culture?
Departments like HR, Compliance, Internal Affairs, should have no place in a culture based on trust
How should companies recruit talent to propagate their good culture?
Cassandra’s five elements fit into an “equation” that is Freedom + Creativity + Purpose, divided by Safety, multiplied by Diversity
How Cassandra applied her five-point system in one of her teams and the amazing reaction people had
What’s the best place for a company to start when looking for an overhaul of their culture?

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Today I’m speaking with Justin Brown, Co-Founder (with his brother Mike) of Primal Video. Primal Video teaches entrepreneurs and business owners how to leverage the power of online video to build and scale their businesses.

Justin and Mike have grown their Primal Video Youtube channel from zero to over a million subscribers over the last seven years. Join us for a deep dive into what makes their company and partnership work, their philosophies on team building and finding the right team members to hire, and the ways that the brothers add value for viewers every day, through every video, and every point of contact with their audience.

As a self-proclaimed “beach geek” from the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, Justin has over 20 years of experience in video production and has worked on everything from Netflix-featured documentaries, to extreme sports projects. Primal Video has evolved into a multi-six-figure automation-driven business, and they now help others (I am a client myself) implement the same approach through their Primal Video Accelerator program.

Discussion Points

The humble beginnings: making videos simply to help people
What was the “penny drop” moment for you and Mike?
Tell us about your early days, and is there an end game?
How has a piece of “brutal” feedback actually helped you improve your videos?
Justin explains how they hire using Meyers-Briggs and other personality tests to get the right fit
Extreme ownership and integrity
Justin and Mike’s partnership and how it functions
Justin’s near-death sky diving experience
What were some of your worst videos and why?
How “being found” is the most important stepping stone to achieving Youtube success
Don’t try to have a presence on all socials– focus on one or two
Some examples of difficult clients and painful failures
How being open to constantly learning is the most important aspect of Justin’s leadership style
The Five Laws in the Go-Giver Book:
Law of Value
Law of Compensation
Law of Influence
Law of Authenticity
Law of Reciprocity<!--

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My guest today is Gloria Tabi, the CEO and Equity & Inclusion Consultant for Everyday Inclusion, based in Sydney, Australia. Originally from Ghana, Gloria has spent nearly 30 years working in research, project management, employment services, and coaching. She has authored the book, “Inclusive Teams & Workplaces: Everyone Wins,” and is the Founder and host of the “Voice Everyday Racism” podcast.

Gloria joins us today to discuss how Everyday Inclusion is a one-stop shop where organizations can come to work on changing to become more inclusive. Businesses must truly understand systemic racism in order to create real change and foster inclusion, not simply check the boxes and celebrate inclusion with one special day every year.

Join us as we discuss Gloria’s sometimes painful personal experiences with racism, and the steps that leaders (and all of us) need to take to make inclusion part of their organization's mission.

Discussion Points

Gloria’s introduction/background
What is the definition of “Everyday Inclusion”?
What does EXCLUSION often look like?
Some examples of exclusion in the workplace
What if those exclusions were simply an oversight or an honest mistake?
What can an organization do as a first step toward creating inclusion?
Racism in Australia and Australian workplaces
Addressing the phrase, “Because I’m white, I’m racist.”
Unless we can talk about racism, we cannot change or resolve it
How Gloria and Everyday Inclusion can work with organizations to ensure inclusion from top to bottom and the three A’s of her work:
Assessment
Announcement
Action
Some examples of organizations successfully accomplishing inclusion
How can you tell what is true inclusive behavior vs. just checking boxes?
What has had the greatest impact on Gloria’s life while doing this work
Key takeaways:
Leaders Unite People
Leaders Seek Real Solutions
Leaders Have Genuine Conversations

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Taras Kobernyk is humble, professional, and articulate. That’s what makes his intriguing situation and actions much more believable. After being fired by Google for questioning some of their policies on diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism, Taras found it quite difficult to find another job.

When asked why he wrote his now-famous document “Questions about Google’s anti-racism actions,” he says he just wanted to start a conversation, just wanted to point out some contradictory, hypocritical behaviors and sentiments that Google leadership was pushing on its employees, particularly on software engineers like himself. Google’s continued refusal (or inability) to address these points has not wavered since the document was released and began a very public media blitz on the subject.

Join me as we talk to Taras about his experiences– from his excitement about moving to the U.S. from Ukraine, getting hired by such a massive tech giant, and the subsequent disintegration of his time there, leading to his being fired for questioning Google leadership on some tough topics.

Discussion Points

Taras’ introduction/background
Getting hired by Google and finding out the internal downsides to his position
What did you see that made you write the document?
How did things go after writing it?
Can you detail the timeline from the writing of the initial document, through your firing?
Were you ever told your performance was subpar?
How would you respond to people who think you’re simply a disgruntled former employee?
What can you tell us about the Anti-Racist Allyship Starter Pack?
What was the response from the top management?
Is any of this helping the environment at Google?
Are you the ONLY Google employee to complain about these policies?
What were the “Citizenship Contributions” you were expected to perform as part of your job?
Are you concerned at all that these policies may affect the public, as Google has such a wide reach?
After you were fired, did Google make it difficult for you to find other work?
Why did you speak up?
If you were still at Google, what do you wish would have happened after sharing this document with leadership?
What part of this experience had the greatest impact on your ideas about lead

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In this episode, we review the most impactful takeaways from the 27 episodes we aired in 2021. From deep listening to self-mastery, join us as we review the top ten pearls of leadership wisdom (plus four bonus nuggets) we gained from these inspiring guests.

Every episode this year had valuable lessons and inspiring speakers, but these were some of the standouts that you can go back and listen to if the topic piques your interest.

Discussion Points

Episode 41: “The Art of Self-Mastery” with RJ Singh

Takeaway: Leaders focus on the art of self-mastery

“I encourage leaders to start small.” - Brendan

Episode 43: “How to Overcome the Fear of Public Speaking” with Kate Purcell

Takeaway: Leaders lead with vulnerability

“Vulnerability is what creates trust.” - Brendan

Episode 45: “How to Create Magic at Work” with Amy Lynn Durham

Takeaway: Leaders connect with people

“Spending time investing in people is super-important.” - Brendan

Bonus Episode 53: “The Story of My Broken Soldier” with Kaz and Matt Page

Takeaway: Leaders face challenges head-on

This was the longest episode we ever did, and very emotional.

“HOPE– Help One Person Every day” - Marc

Episode 48: “Culture of the Living Organisation” with Norman Wolfe

Takeaway: Leaders must understand and work with context

“The context of the situation is what creates the variation.” - Brendan

Episode 49: “The Culture of Remote Working” with Bretton Putter

Takeaway: Leaders have full control over the culture

Bonus

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Martin Stark has earned the title of “champion” in a multitude of fields including boxing, human rights, and gay rights. He is courageous and speaks up for what is good and fair. In today’s episode, I get a bit of a peek behind the curtain of the immense pressures and fears that people in the LGBTIQ+ community face in simple everyday life experiences. Martin is an eloquent speaker and speaks openly about the difficulties he faced as a gay teenager in a world where gay slandering and “homophobia” were the norm.

Martin is passionate about opening the eyes of sporting authorities around the racism, sexism, and homophobia that exist in their systems, and to that end, he is organizing the World Gay Boxing Championships, scheduled to take place in Sydney Australia in February 2023.

Martin is an inspirational human who makes it his mission to change the world, one speaking opportunity at a time because he believes that helping people understand each other is the key to ending hatred.

Discussion Points

Introducing Martin Stark
Making connections with people
Martin’s tattoos
Martin’s health struggles and courage
Life before coming out as gay
What is “homophobic”?
How can we make a difference as heterosexuals?
The people around Martin
Why boxing?
The important skills Martin uses to advance discussions about discrimination
What does LGBTIQ+ stand for?
The importance of pronouns to the LGBTIQ+ community
Martin’s “coming out” story
The World Gay Boxing Championships
What has had the greatest impact on Martin’s leadership journey

Resources

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Podcast Website

The Culture of Things LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Facebook Page

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Mark Birighitti is a professional footballer and plays goalkeeper for the Central Coast Mariners. He has had a great career in football, playing for clubs all over the world. He thrives on that pressure of being the only one responsible for his team’s win or loss often in the final moments of a game and exactly how he pushes through to be successful and often even perceived as cocky! He shares some of the thoughts that go through the mind of a goalkeeper on and off the field, how he has learned to cope in difficult moments and to recover quickly from setbacks and disappointments.

Mark shares his insights into, now, leading this team of younger players as the captain and what he expects from these players when he retires one day. He opens up about what it takes to be a father and husband (sweetly gushing about his wife more than once) while being a professional football player in such a competitive environment.

Mark is as down-to-earth as you get and I have really enjoyed chatting with this football legend today. He makes a few predictions about how he thinks the football season will go - listen to the end of the episode to find out if he was right...

Discussion Points

A bit of Mark’s background
Things that Mark has done to strengthen his mindset
Mark’s 2015 serious injury and reflecting on returning to play earlier than he should have
Mark as team captain - leading a young team
Being a Goalkeeper
Mark’s love of being under pressure
Best memory
The toughest time in Mark’s career

Resources

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Podcast Website

The Culture of Things LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Facebook Page

The Culture of Things YouTube Channel

The Culture of Things Instagram

Mark Birighitti LinkedIn

Central Coast Mariners FC Website

Mark Birighitti Instagram

Mark Birighitti Twitter

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Oscar Trimboli is on a quest to create 100 million deep listeners in the world. He is an author and host of the Apple-award-winning podcast, “Deep Listening”. He is passionate about using the gift of listening to bring positive change in workplaces. He consults with large organizations and shares the transformational impact it can have when leaders listen beyond words. Oscar is based in Sydney, Australia where he contributes to helping first-time runners and ocean swimmers conquer their fears and contributes to the cure of cancer through his support of the Cancer research foundation, Can Too.

In today’s episode, Oscar has me do some introspection on my own listening skills and we delve deeper into what actually makes a great listener. I really enjoyed my conversation with Oscar and I hope you will take away from it as much as I have.

Discussion Points

An introduction to Oscar
Listening and Culture
The difference between listening and hearing
The 5 Levels of Listening
The 125/900 Rule
The impact of listening leaders
The Listening Quiz
Types of listeners
Hacks to help you improve your listening
Tips for asking questions
What makes a great listener?
The person who made the biggest impact on Oscar
The story about the Figure 8

Resources

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Podcast Website

The Culture of Things LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Facebook Page

The Culture of Things YouTube Channel

The Culture of Things Instagram

Listening Quiz

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My guest in today’s episode is Michael Crutcher - he’s the founder and CEO of a company called 55 comms. The focus of 55 comms has been to help clients tell their stories in a rapidly changing world. In the 8 years since starting the business, Michael and the 55 comms team have helped many companies, non-profits, and government departments to communicate better and achieve their goals.

Michael was also appointed the editor of the Courier Mail - Queensland’s largest news and information source. His role as a respected journalist has offered him many opportunities to mix and mingle with legendary leaders both in sport and in politics making him privy to seeing leadership actioned in many different ways. An avid rugby league fan and outside of 55 comms Michael is also the director of the Norths Devils Rugby league football club.

I am privileged to have grown up with Michael and I was excited to catch up with him and learn more about his interesting career journey. He shares with me, his thoughts on what he believes it means to be a good leader based on what he has seen from some of the very best leaders in the world.

Discussion Points

Michael Crutcher introduction
Michael and Brendan’s childhood
Leaders Michael has worked with and learned from
Differences between sporting and political leaders
Leaders Michael admired
Michael’s thoughts on male leaders vs female leaders
Top three observations by Michael of good leaders
More about the company name 55 comms
Michael’s leadership role at the Norths Devils Rugby League Club
Make sure each team member knows their role
How social media has changed leadership pressure in sport
Leaders should inspire their team
What/who inspires Micheal
Staying cool under pressure
The one thing that has had the biggest impact on Michael

Resources

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Podcast Website

The Culture of Things LinkedIn

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Mike Goldman is a well-known Australian personality. He’s an actor, voice-over artist, and presenter. He is most widely known as the host of and voice of BigBrother in the popular reality TV show, BigBrother Australia. He has many years of experience in the entertainment industry and has all the inside scoop around what it takes to work in television production and more specifically, reality television. He shares some of his highs and lows of being part of a big production, the pressure, the excitement, and the “never knowing what to expect” - all included in the live production package.

We also chat about his evolution in how he has offered his services to be able to continue to work during the pandemic. Mike is an all-around great guy, hilarious, and full of positive energy - I have really enjoyed picking his brain on some of these questions around the culture of his industry. Mike has so many channels available to connect with him so take some time to get to know Mike Goldman today - starting with this episode.

Discussion Points

Getting to know Mike
Mike’s perspective on reality TV
What makes a great producer
Mike’s thoughts on the success of BigBrother worldwide
Talking about streaming services
Mike’s favorite type of team to work with
Mike’s work environment challenges
How bad work environments filter through to ratings
Reality TV show Q&A
Comparing BigBrother show to workplace culture
Risk of reality shows
Mike’s thoughts on having good relationships in the industry
The negative side of reality TV
Big issue Mike would solve as Prime Minister of Australia
What’s coming up for Mike
One thing that has had the biggest impact on Mike’s life

Resources

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Podcast Website

The Culture of Things LinkedIn

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In today’s episode, I have an incredibly informative and interesting conversation with Dr. Dan French - a rhetoric specialist. He’s a bit of a chameleon in his career in that he has two Emmy nominations for late-night comedy writing and a Ph.D. in Rhetoric. He has become an expert in linguistics and using words to influence and persuade - ethically. He believes that a better understanding of rhetoric would make a great deal of difference in the craziness we are seeing in the world right now.

Dan is passionate about sharing his knowledge about rhetoric and does so in his book The 21 Coliseums of Persuasion as well as in today’s episode. I have enjoyed learning about the way he thinks and the level of consideration he puts into his words - it’s been eye-opening for me and I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.

Discussion Points

Dr. French’s Bio
What is rhetoric?
How Dan uses Rhetoric in everyday life
What is Dr. French looking to achieve with his work?
Rhetoric and persuasion in business and relationships
The difference between rhetoric and influence
How Dan uses rhetoric to teach leaders in business to influence
The 21 Coliseums of Persuasion - where to start?
Arguments
Common persuasion flaws and false equivalency

Resources

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Podcast Website

The Culture of Things LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Facebook Page

The Culture of Things YouTube Channel

The Culture of Things Instagram

Rhetoric Wa

The 21 Coliseums of Persuasion: Winning Every Battle by Knowing Every Theory

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In today’s episode, I speak to Jodie Hill, the founder, and director of a company called Custodians of Change. They focus on educating the world on self-sustainability and self-worth. Jodie is a brilliant speaker and articulates with near perfection a model she created around the concept of UBUNTU. This concept has been around for many years in the African cultures - and it means “I am because we are” - referring to the idea that as individuals, we are better when we are contributing to the collective community.

She experienced this idea most powerfully during her time living in South Africa. Her feeling, now, is that the rest of the world could greatly benefit from embracing an “Ubuntu” point of view - both personally and in business.

Jodie shares great personal experiences and examples of people “living Ubuntu” and it’s difficult to argue with the proven success in using this outlook to help communities flourish and take care of each other. This episode is one that will hopefully help you see the ways in which you can help others win so that we as a community can win.

Discussion Points

What is “Ubuntu”?
Behind the philosophy fellowship
The “Lebola” system
The meaning of “Ubuntu”
How Nelson Mandela lived “Ubuntu”
Jodie’s experience in South Africa and connecting with the community
Jodie’s Ubuntu Model
Understand
Being
Unite
New Spirit
Trust
Unconditional Love
The thing that had the greatest impact on Jodie’s leadership journey

Resources

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Podcast Website

The Culture of Things LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Facebook Page

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Rex Buckingham is a self-proclaimed old-style leader. With his vast amount of corporate experience, he is able to help guide people to change the way they think and speak in order to change difficult situations. These changes can of course be applied in work situations but they are also powerful tools to use in personal relationships.

In today’s episode, Rex shares a bit about where he started his career and - that he, in fact, believes that those early days (and the managers he worked with) - played a major role in shaping his work ethic and helping him become the leader he is today. Rex shares some great examples of clients he’s helped and how we can each take responsibility for changing our situations.

Discussion Points

Rex’s career history
Command and control vs leadership
Rex’s “old-style” leadership
Intelligent disobedience
Taking responsibility for changing your life
Leadership style is linked to expectations
Allowing command and control leadership
Impacts of command and control leadership on mental health
Rex’s thoughts on HR in a business
The things that had the biggest impact on Rex

Resources

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Podcast Website

The Culture of Things LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Facebook Page

The Culture of Things YouTube Channel

The Culture of Things Instagram

Woolworths

Rex Buckingham LinkedIn

Leadership Thinking academy

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Tom Lawrence started out as an engineering apprentice at an automotive company in Liverpool in the UK. He worked in this industry for a few years, throughout which he found himself working under multiple managers who were not particularly good leaders. These were the quintessential managers of the past… people who just focussed on “getting the job done”. Once he became a manager, he found himself scrambling to figure out the job of leading a team - wishing he had been trained by his predecessor. This led him to the realization that if a manager really does a good job, they are actively upskilling their team to become leaders themselves.

Today you will hear about how Tom came to write his book “Manager to Leader” and we dig a little deeper into a few of the topics he covers in this book. Tom is passionate about teaching people to lead well and I was inspired by his worldview on leaders.

Discussion Points

Tom’s leadership journey
Writing “Manager to Leader”
Managers vs Leaders
False influence vs genuine influence
How to influence genuinely
Leaders being developed before becoming leaders
Insecure leaders vs secure leaders
What is micromanagement?
Changing managers’ mindsets
Tips
Leading up
What has had the biggest impact on Tom’s leadership journey

Resources

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Podcast Website

The Culture of Things LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Facebook Page

The Culture of Things YouTube Channel

The Culture of Things Instagram

Highly Effective Leader Website

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In this episode, Amber and I are both in lockdown in our homes (once again) which means we could unfortunately not record this episode in person but we still managed to get into a cracker conversation about leadership, communication, and personal development.

Amber Daines is one of Australia’s most agile communications professionals. She is known for her ability to devise and implement successful strategies across all forms of external and internal communications. She helps leaders improve their ability to advocate for their business to their employees and the outside world through speaking and writing. By understanding how important communication is to success, she pushes leaders to understand that listening is the first step in being heard. So often leaders are in the position of simply telling people what to do without sharing the philosophy behind it. Amber shares that a leader’s philosophy (and the proper communication of that philosophy) is the thing that really gets the buy-in from his/her team. Without buy-in, unfortunately, a leader will struggle to gain trust which will, in turn, ensure a full effort from team members when working to achieve a goal.

Amber helps us understand the best way to go about getting ourselves heard through better communication.

Discussion Points

Why is communication so important when you are a leader
Remember who your audience is and remain consistent
How leaders can get comfortable with who they are?
The impact of a leader with poor communication skills
The importance of vulnerability in a leader
The media its influence on vulnerability in leaders
Online vs offline communication
Social media in communication
What is a good measure of your communication success?
Personal branding
Nonverbal communication tips
Becoming better listeners
How to get leaders to change by seeking feedback
Top tips to improve communication
Amber’s podcast

Resources

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Podcast Website

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Today I’m talking to Erin Jewel - a Thrive Global top 10 coach of 2021. She is an executive mindset, growth- and performance coach, speaker, and professor of leadership at Villanova University. She has over twenty years of leadership experience in the healthcare sector, working at Pfizer, Boston Scientific, and Medtronic. She has become an expert in strategies to manage team performance and had built a successful consulting practice based on these strategies.

Our focus today is on engaged versus disengaged team members and Erin unpacks a few of the reasons team members might be disengaged, things leaders can do to change the situation and things leaders should avoid doing that may cause team members to disengage.

Our conversation goes into some great tips that will help both leaders and team members to better engage with each other by focusing on themselves and what they can do to promote a better work environment.

Discussion Points

Erin as Thrive Global top 10 coach
Working with leaders in the vaccine development industry
The impact of the pandemic on leaders in different industries
The great resignation
Engaged vs Disengaged
What can a leader do that causes disengagement?
The meaning quotient (MQ)
How to choose the right person to lead
Transitioning from individual performer to leader
Self-awareness in leadership
Practicing what you preach as a leader
Compassion and boundaries go hand in hand
The Karpman Drama Triangle
The responsibility of the team member/employee
What has had the greatest impact on Erin’s leadership journey?

Resources

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Podcast Website

The Culture of Things LinkedIn

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Andrew Bartlow has 25 years of HR and organizational management experience. He is passionate about helping leaders identify their strengths and weaknesses and he has an empathetic approach to helping them improve the way they run their businesses and manage their employees. Andrew discusses a wide range of topics from his new book, Scaling for Success - where the focus is on people being the priority when working on scaling your business.

Andrew and I have very similar views on the use of personality assessment tools when making hiring decisions- that it’s a very poor way of identifying a good fit in an organization. We also go into quite a bit of detail around Andrew’s theory around the two founder archetypes - Mule-drivers and Prophets - both coming with their specific strengths and weaknesses. Andrew breaks down his process of working with each of these founder-types to help them understand their role in the successes and failures of their organizations. He works with these founders to improve their weaknesses or hire someone with strengths that complement their weaknesses. If you are a founder and not sure why there may be frustrations in your organization, listen up, you may just get the insight you need from today’s episode.

Discussion Points

All about ego
The Ego traps
The Mule-driver vs Prophet archetype founders
Impact of people in a “Prophet-founded” organization
How Andrew approaches these founders
RACI - tool
HR in a Mule-driver organization
Tools for founders (spoiler - the tool doesn’t matter)
Making decisions using tools are dangerous
Developing trust in teams
Advice for prophet founders
Advice to mule-driver founders
The greatest impact in Andrew’s leadership journey

Resources

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Podcast Website

The Culture of Things LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Facebook Page

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Today I’m talking with David Bacon - an experienced director, chief executive officer, and senior executive in both the private and public sectors. He is an expert communicator, stemming from his career in journalism and radio broadcasting. He shares a bit about the work he did as a spokesperson for British American Tobacco, noting that he was able to remain ethical and truthful throughout his time there - which is why he never felt the need to apologize for doing this job - regardless of the fact that most people had strong opinions about the company and the industry (which meant that he avoided talking about his job most of the time).

David is a highly intelligent, incredibly humble, and interesting individual. Our conversation is a rollercoaster ride of topics - which is pretty much reflective of David’s life and career. David has buckets of life experience and he shares about his enjoyment in being able to give back as a way to show his gratitude towards his career and- business success. To that end, David joined the Gosford Rotary club where he has achieved much as club president since then and while he has recently stepped down as president, he made sure to leave a legacy of strong leadership and good values behind. In today’s episode, we get to know David a bit better and find out what he believes is required to be successful in life.

Discussion Points

Introduction to David Bacon
Cash for comment scandal
David’s role in the regulation of the industry after the scandal
About Rotary
David’s involvement in Rotary
Being president of the local Rotary club
Getting buy-in from fellow club members
Learning to be an active listener
David’s leadership style
Being a spokesperson for British American Tobacco
David’s greatest challenge in being a spokesperson
Journalism now vs back then
Governance
Culture change in Pacific Link housing
David’s values and ethics
Leadership and character
Most impactful person in David’s life

Resources

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

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Karen and Matt Page have walked through some tumultuous times together, to say the least. It all began after Matt suffered a traumatic brain injury during his military deployment. Unfortunately, the accident turned out to be only the beginning of some of the most difficult times in their lives - putting a massive strain on their marriage and family life. Karen wrote the book “My Broken Soldier” as part of her healing process, sharing some of the deepest, darkest moments of their family’s struggle. Matt and Karen both join me on today’s episode, sharing some of how they dealt with some incredibly difficult periods in Matt’s healing process and what they feel helped them get through it all.

They have now made it their personal mission to make sure that they help other families in the same situation get access to the help they need sooner and more efficiently. The stigma that surrounds mental health in Australia and the world needs to end - and they believe that talking about one’s experiences more openly will be the key to unlocking this change in society. This, in turn, will help families struggling with mental health issues realize that they aren’t as isolated as they might feel. Reading Karen’s book has touched me deeply, and opened my eyes to the nearly impossible strength that it took for this couple to get as far as they have - and still be working together to live their best lives. I am grateful for their presence on today’s episode and I hope that this platform will help spread their powerful message to people who need to hear it!

Discussion Points

The motivation behind the book
Matt’s accident
The comedy of errors post the accident
The many other people in the same situation
Matt’s healing process
Managing mental health
Realizing your worth
Dealing with tough moments
Karen’s relationship with her dad
Matt becoming “dad” to Karen’s daughters
The process of having a baby
Opening up about difficult times - ask for help
Working to help others in the same situation
Transitioning from defence back into civilian life
Matt & Karen’s advice to other families

Resources

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

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Michael Thwaite is an athlete, a businessman, a husband and a father. While his successes include playing for professional teams all over the world and marrying his high school sweetheart, he has had to deal with all kinds of disappointments and delays in his life and career as well. A few years ago - he made the decision to put his family first at this point in his life, recognizing that his children won’t be small forever - so he wants to be there for them. In today’s episode, he gives us insight into his values as a leader and the habits he has adopted in order to cultivate those values.

He has pushed through many disappointments and come out the other side a humbler, but stronger person. Now he’s taking on the challenge of working in his community as a disability support worker - helping people with disabilities get involved in sport. Michael is a leader in the truest sense of the word as he exemplifies a positive attitude even in his darkest moments. I chat with him about some of his major accomplishments and how he was able to get through his lowest moments. His answers might surprise you… Michael Thwaite has had a rollercoaster- career, but he wouldn’t change a single thing if that would mean he’d end up anywhere other than right where he’s at now in his life.

Discussion Points

Michael Thwaite’s career
Michael’s start in soccer
Values that drive Michael
Michael’s journey as a leader
Habits Michael adopted to reach his goals
Learning from failure
Dealing with mental health struggles
Resilience patterns
Michael’s new role as disability support worker
Michael’s thoughts on social media
That’s football business
Biggest challenge in Michael’s career
Michael’s greatest career highlight
What’s next for Michael?

Resources

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Podcast Website

The Culture of Things LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Facebook Page

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Today’s guest on this episode of The Culture of Things is Dr. Wilma Slenders. She is an expert management consultant with many years of experience in helping leaders realise their potential and better themselves through empathy and change management in their businesses.

We explore the idea of Lifetime Employability versus Lifelong employment and how that affects the mindset and work ethic of employees. This again, has a direct impact on the culture of an organisation. They discuss how important it is for leaders to see their actions through the eyes of their employees in order to ensure that they make decisions that will benefit the company as a whole - including all its employees.

This episode is packed with brilliant examples that explain the reasoning behind the theories and on top of that, Dr. Slenders shares some really exciting news about her upcoming book.

Discussion Points

Dr. Slenders’ road to becoming a leadership consultant
Lifetime Employability vs Lifelong employment
Benefits of having Lifetime employability mindset
Skills required for lifetime employability
Change agility
Relationships and trust during times of change
Leaders and Empathy
Dr. Slenders’ book
Dr. Slenders’ Advice to leaders

Resources

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Podcast Website

The Culture of Things LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Facebook Page

The Culture of Things YouTube Channel

The Culture of Things Instagram

Transcend Management Advisors Inc

Dr. Wilma Slenders LinkedIn Page

Transcend Management Advisors Inc Facebook Page

Edelman Trust Barometer

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In today’s episode - the 50th episode of The Culture of Things, Brendan’s guest is Jo Hanlon. Jo is an expert business coach and mentor in the area of boosting productivity and opening communication channels and cultivating positive workplace culture. She runs a business called “Mind Your Ps” (referring to People, Productivity and Potential). They are a team of consultants who provides HR Coaching to employers and business owners, specialising in helping these leaders get the best out of themselves and their team.

Brendan chats to Jo about the role that advisory boards play in a business environment and why a business owner would want to put together an advisory board in the first place. She shares some really interesting insights on what you should have in place as a business before starting to work with an advisory board to ensure you get the most ‘bang for your buck’. Advisory boards work best when the business owner has a clear idea of the outcomes they wish to achieve from the process. Jo points out that it is also important to be open to new ideas and changes when you are considering putting an advisory board together to solve a problem for your business.

Advisory boards aren’t suitable in all businesses or in all situations but there are a lot of businesses that could greatly benefit from implementing such a structure - and with Jo being an expert in this fairly new field in business, this episode is a great place to get started if you are looking to find out more about advisory boards.

Discussion Points

Jo’s background
What is an advisory board?
What sort of business can benefit from an advisory board?
Challenges that warrant an advisory board
Criteria and requirements for advisory board members
The Importance (or not) of teamwork in advisory boards
Governance board vs advisory board
Where to find information around advisory boards
Situations that would not benefit from an advisory board
Why networking is important to Jo
Situations where a business uses both a governance board and an advisory board
When a business should grow from a sole consultant to an advisory board
Cons around advisory boards
Advice for businesses considering advisory boards
Become an advisor
The cost of an advisory board

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Bretton Putter is passionate about company culture and his work has brought him to focus on remote working environments. He is CEO of a culture, leadership software and service platform called CultureGene - a platform that has changed the culture-trajectory of a multitude of companies who have had to make major adjustments and changes, thanks to the current “COVID new-normal''. Brett’s knowledge stems from years of consulting and working with a multitude of leaders in business who needed guidance on tackling culture challenges in their businesses.

Brendan chats to Brett about his book “Own your Culture” - their discussion revolving around the nine best practices of a successful remote working environment. Bretton points out which practices he deems to be most critical in a hybrid or fully remote business. Interestingly, Brett also debunks the myth that “structure stifles creativity in remote working”. He also makes it clear that it isn’t just up to the CEO and management to decide on what works for everyone in terms of structure - it should be a consultative process.

If you are a leader in a business that was unexpectedly ‘forced’ into remote working thanks to the pandemic over the last year - this episode is sure to give you some tips and things to consider about your management style. Even if you have been doing everything right - chances are, you will still learn something from Brett when it comes to bettering your company culture in future. Especially since it’s becoming clear as time goes on that going back to the “old-normal” is not going to be a viable option for most businesses post-COVID.

Discussion Points:

Bretton’s background
How the book “Own Your Culture” came about
Challenges in managing culture in a newly remote working environment
Difference between remote work and the Hybrid model
Why hybrid organizations are more difficult to lead
Frustrations in hybrid culture
9 Best practices in working remotely
Build social connections at a distance
Create recorded processes for your business
Focus on communication
Document everything
Create a structure
Develop and nurture transparency, trust, and accountability
Focus on results, output, and outcomes
Customize your hiring process
Be deliberate about your culture

Own Your Culture: How to Define, Embed and Manage your Company Culture

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Brendan’s guest on this episode is Norman Wolfe - founder and CEO of Quantum Leaders and author of the book “The Living Organisation”. Norman is a veteran in the business world when it comes to leadership and he is a thought-leader in the world of business transformation because of the way he goes about helping leaders do things differently when they’re looking for a culture-change in their organisation.

In this episode, Brendan delves into more detail on the specific theories behind Norman’s book “The Living Organization”.

Norman Wolfe has a wealth of knowledge and experience to share and he does so with no holds bar in this episode. He shares tips that can make an impact in any industry and he has a way with words that make it easy to understand the reasoning behind his theories.

Achieving the results that you as a leader are aiming for - according to Norman - could be so much easier than it often ends up being because of his “flow” vs “control” theory. Brendan and Norman discuss this and other major ideas from Norman’s book and they actually get some truly valuable insights thanks to great examples from Norman’s wealth of experience as a business consultant. Leaders can change their organisations by focusing on the context rather than the people -and then the people who you want in your business will automatically fall in line and flourish. Brendan delves deeper into this with Norman, finding out why and how that is possible. An interesting discussion about a powerful theme that has the potential to change the way leaders lead.

Discussion Points:

The Mystical Norman Wolfe
The Living Organization Framework Explained
Change the Context to change the behavior
Parts of the Living organization
Heart-centered wisdom and communication
How Norman Encourages leaders
Control vs Flow
Most impactful skills to learn
Integrating opposites - a significant skill
Advice to leaders on how to start seeing their organization as a “Living organization”

Resources

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Podcast Website

The Culture of Things LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Facebook Page

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What factors go into the recruitment process? What makes a good leader? Why does treating candidates with respect matter? These are some of the questions that we’ll explore in today’s episode.

Today’s guest is Mark Purbrick. Mark is the Managing Director of Peoplogica. He has over 35 years of management experience, including 23 years at the General Manager or Chief Executive Officer level, as well as more than 30 years of board director experience for both private enterprise and government-controlled entities. Mark assists clients to make the right business and people capital decisions.

Mark has designed Innovative People Capital Solutions and has ensured that Peoplogica is at the forefront of people tests, assessments, and surveys. He specializes in the attraction, selection, and retention of high-performing talent. Listen to today’s episode to hear what Mark has to say about what high-performing talent looks like, how businesses can attract them, and what leaders need to be doing through the selection process.

Discussion Points:

Mark’s passions for attracting talent and for winemaking
An overview of Peoplogica
The types of business or leaders that seek Mark’s help
What a high-performing talent looks like
Consistency or inconsistency in the behaviors that high performers have
How a business can attract high-performing talent
What leaders need to do throughout the selection process
Treating candidates with courtesy
Tools that offer the best value in the interview process
The costs of getting the wrong person in the organization
What a company needs to do to retain top talent
Most effective tips for leaders
How much easier the Peoplogica tools make coaching conversations for leaders
The biggest bit of advice for attracting, selecting, and retaining high performing talent

Resources

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Podcast Website

The Culture of Things LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Facebook Page

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What is thought leadership? What is it that thought leaders are doing, and who decides who is and isn’t a thought leader, anyway? According to today’s guest, a lot of people are doing it wrong by calling themselves thought leaders – instead, it should be a title that others bestow on you. It’s up to your audience to decide whether or not you’re actually leading.

Peter Winick is the Founder and CEO of Thought Leadership Leverage. He has helped individuals and organizations build and grow revenue through designing and growing their thought leadership platforms for two decades. He has also guided and advised for the increasing business-to-business sales of Thought Leadership products.

Listen to today’s episode to hear Peter talk about how he got into the thought leadership space in the first place and what the term means to him. He discusses both what’s leading the thought leadership field now as well as what’s coming in the future. If you’re interested in how to become a thought leader and what you might do to get started in the thought leadership space, this episode is for you.

Discussion Points:

The term “thought leadership” and what it means
Where thought leadership comes from
Whether people should call themselves thought leaders
What got Peter into the space he’s in now
What’s leading the field in thought leadership and what’s coming in the future
How you become a thought leader
Whether thought leadership needs to be around an individual
Frameworks in the thought leadership space
Where a thought leader needs to be in their career and life
The biggest challenges for the thought leader space
Social media platforms in the thought leadership space
Advice for people at the beginning of a thought leadership journey
What the next year or two looks like for Peter

Resources

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Podcast Website

The Culture of Things LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Facebook Page

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In today’s episode, Brendan and his guest Amy Lynn Durham explore the factors that allow business leaders and CEOs - to create a magical, happy work environment for themselves and their employees.

Amy calls herself a “Corporate Mystic” and she is the author of the book “Create Magic at Work”. In it, she shares some profound ideas around how spiritual intelligence (SQ) and emotional intelligence (EQ) in business leaders are incredibly influential forces in how their employees feel at work. This, in turn, means that as a leader, you have a powerful influence on your company’s employee morale, directly affecting their productivity and thus, profit margins. Attracting and retaining the best employees will also become a natural outflow of this result.

Amy has spent years working with top corporates to help them find better ways to deal with their anxiety and emotions at work - including practical guidance to improve their public speaking and how to deal with anger and stressors at work. This has helped thousands of CEOs become better leaders. Some of her clients have seen so much value in their work with Amy, that they often call her up for support and advice - long after they have completed their course.

Spiritual intelligence opens up a multitude of new ways in which CEOs and leaders can take control of their own health, wealth and happiness along with that of the people who work for them. Not only does Amy help in the “experience” of a better work environment, but she also backs up these “feelings” with actual measured data making it easier for the practical-minded CEOs to justify putting in the effort of working on their SQ.

Discussion Points:

What is a “Corporate Mystic”
What it means to create Magic in a corporate environment
What is Spiritual Intelligence (SQ)
PQ vs IQ vs EQ vs SQ
EQ in the workplace
Appreciation Anchors
Dealing with CEO’s who have a more “practical” view of the world
SQ 21 Model
The Moses Code
Making wise and compassionate decisions
The impact of low EQ/SQ in leaders
Intentions study Exercise
How to facilitate sharing in groups
What gives Amy energy

Resources

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

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Often, the impression of a company’s Human Resources department and the people who work there is on the negative side. However, Erica Johnson is trying to change that through her work as Head of Diversity, Equity and Belonging at Chime. After personally experiencing moments in her career that made her feel alienated, Erica understands how important it is to stop that from happening with others. She now lives and breathes the idea of making sure that all the different voices in the company are heard and all the same opportunities are available to everyone in the workplace regardless of their race, gender or ethnicity. She explains why it’s worthwhile for companies to do the hard work from the moment they hire their very first employee. Also pointing out that this process is not a “once-off” project to implement and “be done with”, but rather an ongoing culture that needs to be instilled in the business. Continuing to do the hard work on an ongoing basis will ensure that all employees feel included even as the company grows. Erica believes that this mindset boosts the potential of - and holds endless benefits for companies who get it right.

While inclusion and diversity in the workplace may be a trending topic at the moment - Erica makes it clear that it is not just a passing fad. DEI is here to stay and it needs to be seen as an important part of success in businesses - and why not? It means you actually care about the people who dedicate their time towards building your business!

It is always inspiring to listen to someone who is clearly very passionate and dedicated to their field and listening to Erica sharing her thoughts on diversity equity and inclusion, is no different.

Discussion Points:

What is diversity, equity and inclusion?
Why aren’t all companies focusing on this?
What is Erica’s measure of personal success at Chime?
The importance of employee nicknames.
Keeping Focused on Diversity continuously
A culture of DEI is not just for big companies
Diversity management is not just an HR fad
Challenges in Erica’s role in DEI at Chime
Leading the change through Empathy
How Erica got into the role
Making sure your motivation is right

Resources

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Podcast Website

The Culture of Things LinkedIn

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In today’s episode, Brendan has an inspirational chat with his very own Toastmasters club president Kate Purcell. She shares her story of, from a young age, always finding herself getting tripped up by her debilitating fear of public speaking (or, in fact, even the slightest possibility of public embarrassment). So much so, that she often avoided doing things she enjoyed, for fear of being put in a position that would put her in the spotlight.

However, she has made it her goal to overcome this fear and enjoy the freedom that comes with it. She admits that she is still not 100% “cured” of this fear of speaking impromptu and she is working on speaking without her notes in front of her, but, since joining Toastmasters, Kate has learned the importance of having a “just do it” attitude – which she now tries to apply whenever she feels apprehension creeping in. She even went as far as saying “just do it” to becoming her Toastmasters’ Club President – a role that would stretch her in many ways – including of course being “forced” to speak in front of others on a more regular basis. However, she has found her passion in this role and she is able to apply her incredible leadership skills behind the scenes as well, and helping the club organise and set up processes that they are really benefiting from.

Discussion Points:

A bit about Kate
What is Toastmasters?
Going to her first Toastmasters meeting
Joining Toastmasters
Enjoying the support of her husband
Benefits of toastmasters
Improving confidence every day
Deciding to run for President of Brisbane Water Breakfast Toastmasters Club
Priority in her role of president
What Kate enjoys about being president
Being vulnerable and humble as a leader
Advice to become more self-confident

Key Takeaways

Leaders lead with vulnerability
Leaders are always improving themselves
Leaders leave a lasting legacy

Resources

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Podcast Website

The Culture of Things LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Facebook Page

Brisbane Water Breakfast Toastmasters Club LinkedIn

Brisbane Water Breakfast Toastmasters Club Facebook

Brisbane Water Breakfast Toastmasters Club Website

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Randy McNeely lives and breathes kindness and he has dedicated his life to sharing ways to be kind and getting a culture of kindness engrained into organisations. Randy has written a book on the topic of kindness called “The Kindness Givers Formula” and in it, he shares how acts of kindness have the powerful ability to change people’s day (and even change lives in some instances).

In this episode, Brendan chats to Randy about his journey into teaching individuals and organisations to leverage kindness to improve their world and the world of people around them. They go into how being kind, actually has the power to make the person being kind, feel good. Yes, scientific evidence that shows that kindness literally goes both ways. Being kind is easier than it may seem in the moment and the more you look for opportunities to be kind, the more such opportunities will tend to arise. This will, in turn, mean cultivating a Circle of Kindness and positivity all around you. So whether it’s in your business or personal life, Randy reminds us about the BIG impact a small act of kindness can have.

Randy is truly passionate about his mission to get the world to become a kinder place - and boy, we can all do with a kinder world, right?

Discussion Points:

Meaning of PEPOK
Why Randy values Kindness
Memorable moments of kindness
The Meaning of Chief kindness officer
Practical Actions: Kindness by Design, The Circle of Kindness
Kindness Givers Formula
Examples of kindness
Kindness in organisations filters down
Societal Climate change
Our thoughts precede our actions
The Daily Dose of Positive book series

Resources

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Podcast Website

The Culture of Things LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Facebook Page

Randy McNeely LinkedIn

PEPOK Institute

Kindness in Action

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In today’s episode, Brendan dives into an inspiring discussion with RJ Singh - founder of Ultra Habits, an ultra-endurance athlete, self-mastery mentor and a proud husband and father of two. He is the director of Cora Group - an integrated business to business freight and logistics management company. He is a natural leader - through leading by example. He has taken it upon himself to focus on always striving to be better, and helping other men do the same. He had a rocky start, falling in with the wrong crowd and becoming dependent on drugs and alcohol at a young age. However, at the age of 25, with the help of mentors and friends, RJ got sober and decided that it was important for him to “pay it forward” and help mentor and inspire other young men into making smarter decisions and realising the impact they can have on the world.

A powerful life lesson he embodies is that any change you wanted to see in the world needs to come from inside yourself first. This realisation has become a major driving force in his life and it determines how he makes decisions and the activities he spends his time on. He explains the deep value of regular introspection and making time to build good habits.

RJ is humble and charismatic and one cannot help but be inspired by the way he has found a way to rise above all the adversity he has faced in his lifetime.

Resources

Cora Group

RJ Singh LinkedIn

RJ Singh Instagram

Ultra Habits Facebook Page

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Podcast Website

The Culture of Things LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Facebook Page

David Goggins - Wiki

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Dr Pat Boulogne has helped thousands of people over the last 35-plus years stop adapting their lifestyle to pain and chronic problems by focusing on the whole person. She has a passion for getting people to live healthier lives by focusing on the food they put into their bodies. She believes that you shouldn’t treat symptoms in isolation, but instead, figure out the cause and deal with that. According to her, nutrition has the ability to have a significant impact on our health, fitness and quality of life.

Dr Pat has written a comprehensive book called “Why... Are You Sick, Fat, and Tired?: Find out now” in which she writes about her learnings around holistic health management. It offers its readers a questionnaire that will help them pin-point possible health concerns and ways to treat or manage these before becoming a crisis.

Resources

Dr Pat Boulogne - Website (Health Team Network)

Stronger than Medicine Program

Dr Pat Boulogne - Facebook

Dr Pat Boulogne - LinkedIn

Dr Boulogne’s Book: Why...Are You Sick, Fat, and Tired?: Find Out Now

Dr Pat Boulogne - Instagram

Dr Pat Boulogne - Twitter

Brendan Rogers Website

Brendan Rogers LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Podcast Website

The Culture of Things LinkedIn

The Culture of Things Facebook Page

Why... Are You Sick, Fat, and Tired?: Find Out Now

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Marcus Nicholls & Ariel Endean are Business Coaches & Consultants, Speakers, Authors, and occasional relationship rescuers.

They have been in Business & a relationship for a quarter of a century. During that time they have bought, built, managed & sold a seven-figure business without it costing them their relationship.

Business Couples Success was born from those years where at times they struggled and could have really benefited from a strong supportive community of like-minded entrepreneurial Business Couples.

They work directly with Business Couples to maximize their profits, improve their systems, and strengthen communication throughout their business and relationship.

They also run a Podcast called “Business Couples Secret Sauce” where they interview successful Business Couples to get their tips, tricks, and stories and how they have built a successful business without destroying their relationship.

Their goal is to help Business Couples get the same level of Wealth, Health & Happiness into their lives that they have.

They believe that gaining knowledge and implementing what you learn is key to any Business Couples Success which is why they call themselves learners of life. Courses, books, podcasts, events, conferences, business network groups are all part of what helps them be a happier more successful business couple which in turn helps the clients they work with.

Their motto “Stronger Together” means you achieve more with the person you love most right by your side in Business and life.

The focus of our conversation today is uncovering the secret sauce for business couples.

Website

https://businesscouplessuccess.com/

Social Media Links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BusinessCouplesSuccess/

LinkedIn Business Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/business-couples-success

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/businesscouplessuccess/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkpE2RDxeHzaVAOLY8w-hZg

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Robert & Taylem were the 2020 School Captains at Central Coast Grammar School.

I have had the privilege of working with both Robert & Taylem over this past year. We have talked about so many things related to their leadership journey and their experiences as School Captains of one of the most prestigious schools on the Central Coast.

We wanted to bring this journey to life in a podcast episode to help other current and aspiring young school leaders, but also people working with young leaders to reflect on how we can work together to achieve great outcomes.

In saying that, I know through first hand experience of working with Robert & Taylem, how much our young people can open up our minds and help us older generations to view the world through a different lens.

The focus of our conversation today is learning from Robert and Taylem about their school leadership experience.

If you have any

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Nick Bendel is the owner of Hunter & Scribe, a copywriting and content marketing agency that writes blogs, social media posts, emails, ebooks and media releases for small businesses.

Nick publishes a daily marketing newsletter called Nick’s Marketing Tips.

When he’s not working, Nick is kept busy with his #500lunches project, which involves having lunch with 500 strangers in five years.

Nick also loves sport, reading, history, travelling and public speaking.

The focus of our conversation today is Nick’s journey to have 500 lunches with strangers.

Website & Social Media

Website: https://500lunches.net/

Business Website: https://hunterandscribe.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-bendel

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Nathan Grey was born in Gosford and educated on the Gold Coast, He was a committed, hard nosed and straight running inside centre who gave his all for club, state and country. Nathan played three years of 1st XV rugby for The Southport School alongside former Wallaby captains Nathan Sharpe and James Slipper and represented Australia at U19 and U21 levels.

In 1997 he debuted for Queensland against New South Wales in Sydney but by the end of the year he turned to the dark side and toured with a NSW development squad. Nathan was then offered a NSW contract and he joined the Waratahs.

Within seven months of his first Waratahs match he was in the Wallabies squad and won a debut against Scotland in Sydney. Nathan was a key part of what was the golden era of Australian rugby.

In 1998 he was in the squad as Australia completed their first ever 3-0 clean sweep of a Test series against New Zealand.

In 1999 he was a member of the World Cup winning squad and in 2001 he started in each match of the historic 2-1 series victory over the British & Irish Lions. Nathan played 35 tests for Australia, starting in 19, over the course of his six-year international career.

In 2011, Nathan began his coaching career in Japan before joining the Melbourne Rebels as an Assistant Coach. He was part of Michael Cheika’s coaching staff that guided the Waratahs to a maiden Super Rugby championship in 2014 and was also part of the coaching staff at the Wallabies from 2014 to 2019. He joined the Sunwolves in Japan for the 2020 Super Rugby season in the role as Technical Director before taking on a role as High Performance National Programs Coach for Rugby Australia.

In December 2020, Nathan was appointed Head Coach of the

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Julie Watson is the General Manager & Founder of ‘Stronger Than My Excuses’.

She is a successful Central Coast businesswoman for over 30 years and author of two e-Books. Julie now helps people to find their own inspiration through the ‘Stronger Than My Excuses’ presentations and Web TV panel discussions.

After overcoming her own health and financial adversities and being able to work from anywhere in the world, Julie is well positioned to offer solutions based on real life experiences.

As Julie says, “It’s easy to be motivated while someone is giving us these pep-talks, but the moment we walk out the door, the motivation begins to fade. Julie will give you tools to help you physically move, to take action and to simply get started. No Excuses.”

The focus of our conversation today is ‘Being Stronger Than My Excuses’.

Julie’s Social Media Links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/juliewatson.info/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stronger-than-my-excuses/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6Vzxfreb9m7c_TIinHRT-A

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JulieWatsonCCC

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stronger_than_my_excuses_julie/

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to

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Transforming your office culture is not easy! There are many courageous leaders who take up the challenge. There are few who stick with it - Alex is one of the few!

Alex Carver is a physiotherapist by trade, and has worked his way up to now be the Managing Director of Medi Australia. Medi is one of the world's leading manufacturers of medical aids, with around 3,000 employees worldwide and 25 international branches. Medi has two production facilities in Germany and the USA and exports to more than 90 countries worldwide.

Before taking on the Managing Director role at Medi Australia, he spent much of his time in head sales roles across medical, sports and racing and recruitment industries.

Alex is a Pom who immigrated to Australia 13 years ago. This, along with the fact he is a Tottenham Hotspurs supporter, is proof that we don’t discriminate on The Culture of Things podcast. We allow almost anyone a chance to share their incredible story with an emphasis on culture, leadership and teamwork.

With this in mind, the focus of our conversation today is the challenge of transforming your office culture.

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Ian Lynch is the Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Link Housing. Pacific Link Housing is a Community Housing Provider and Registered Charity providing housing solutions for those in our community who have the greatest need, as well as operating a successful and unique profit for purpose real estate agency key2 Realty.

Ian has worked locally on the Central Coast and overseas in a number of commercial companies in the IT, Hospitality, Sports Marketing and Insurance sectors. He is a qualified CPA, with a strong finance background and a deep understanding of the community housing sector and supporting services.

Before taking on the CEO role in September 2019, Ian served as the Chief Financial Officer of Pacific Link Housing since June 2017.

It’s this transition from CFO to CEO which is the focus of our conversation today.

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Luke Sullivan and Shaun Sullivan are brothers and together, run Teams Challenge Australia, along with Luke’s wife Emily. Teams Challenge Australia (TCA) is a team building, leadership and wellbeing company based on the Central Coast.

Luke and Shaun are both Personal Development, Health and Physical Education Teachers delivering the Outdoor Recreation and Well-being Programs at Girrakool Education Training Unit. Girrakool ETU is a unique NSW Dept of Education & Communities School located within Frank Baxter Juvenile Justice Centre. With over 11 years' experience working with some of NSW most at risk and challenging 16-21 year old Juvenile offenders, they have a passion for getting the best out of individuals and bringing them together as a Team in nature.

The focus of our conversation is ‘How to reduce & deal with life’s stresses’.

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Monte Pedersen is the Principal of The CDA Group which is a leadership training firm that specialises in strategy execution management. A completely operations-based system and process that helps leaders achieve their strategic initiatives and get better at it every year.

Monte believes that most businesses excel at creating the plan for what they want to achieve, and that nobody understands or carries those aspirations better than CEO's, Senior Leaders and Business Owners.

Monte says, where problems arise is when the business fails to execute on the plan and team members don't understand what is expected of them.

That's why he created the CDA Group to help leaders execute on the plan and ensure team members know exactly what is expected of them. He is dedicated to the concept of "Execution Mastery" or the process of Clarifying, Deploying and Achieving organisational initiatives.

Monte is also a regular contributor in the LinkedIn community and writes regular thoughtful posts covering culture, leadership, teamwork all wrapped into managing execution. His posts have fantastic engagement levels.

The focus of our conversation is ‘Leadership through the lens of execution’.

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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If you didn’t already know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

With this in mind, there is nobody better to have on today's episode than one of the leading breast cancer surgeons in Australia, Dr Lucia Saliba.

Luci, as she prefers to be called, is trained and accredited in Australia as a General Surgeon with a broad expertise in breast and general surgery including breast reconstruction.

She graduated from the University of NSW in 1995 and went on to complete her General Surgery Fellowship in 2003. In 2005, Luci completed her Breast and Endocrine Fellowship with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. She has trained extensively, both locally and overseas in areas related to Breast Reconstruction, Breast Oncoplastics and Breast Cancer Therapy. She has also recently completed her Master of Surgery (Breast Cancer).

Luci has a passion for education, teaching and supervising junior medical staff and surgical registrars in the fields of Breast and General Surgery.

She is committed to excellence in surgery and providing holistic and compassionate care to patients in a timely fashion, endeavouring to ensure minimal wait times.

Luci provides end to end care for patients, meaning a patient is able to stay with her from oncological surgery, through to re-construction. Many other surgeons do not offer the ‘before and after’ of looking after a patient; they only perform the surgery. Luci will look after the patient from beginning to end, from testing to rehabilitation.

The focus of our conversation is gaining a perspective on culture, leadership and teamwork as a surgeon.

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Peter Strohkorb is the Owner and Director of Peter Strohkorb Advisory.

After 20+ years in the corporate sector working for companies like Sony, 3M, Canon, Computer Sciences Corporation and Dell, Peter wanted a change. He had experienced a number of mistakes that small, medium and large businesses make when trying to accelerate their sales results. So, he set himself the task to develop and offer solutions to remedy these mistakes.

Hence, he founded his advisory service specialising in sales acceleration and Smarketing™ for the tech, IT and Services sectors in Australia, USA, Asia Pacific and Europe.

Peter has developed a structured Sales & Marketing productivity framework to help your sales and marketing resources work together more effectively. This approach drives sales revenue growth, enhances your customer experience and lifts employee engagement.

Peter is the author of two books: The One Team Method - How to Boost Big Business & Smarketing™ - Sell Smarter, Not Harder. He is a Non-Executive Director sitting on several company advisory boards and is a graduate from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management and Australian Institute of Company Directors.

The focus of our conversation is Smarketing™ - how sales and marketing must collaborate and work as a team to achieve success.

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Creating a Culture to be Proud Of - that's what Bill Clifton has worked hard to achieve at Banlaw.

Bill is the Group Managing Director of Banlaw based in the Hunter Valley, about an hour north of our beautiful Central Coast. The Hunter Valley location is Banlaw’s main manufacturing and research and development facility.

Banlaw is leading the way in the innovation of unified fuel management solutions and services globally. They design and manage these systems for mining, container handling ports, rail and transport industries. Their fuel systems can be found throughout Australia, Europe, the US, Asia and the Americas.

I heard Bill talk about the Banlaw culture through an industry event and made contact with him to learn some more. When we spoke, there was some great ‘real life culture building’ experience that needed to be shared.

Thankfully Bill has agreed to do that today.

The focus of our conversation is to share Bill’s experience in creating a culture at Banlaw that he is proud of.

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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What is the key to unlocking potential?

Mark Bragg is a Performance and Leadership Coach who has been coaching in one form or another for 40 years. In his early career, Mark played and coached basketball professionally, in Australia’s National Basketball League.

Over the past two decades, Mark has worked as an Executive Coach in multiple business disciplines and industries in 23 countries.

In recent years, he has been working in San Francisco, Hong Kong, Dublin and Sydney with Emerging Australian entrepreneurs.

Mark works with Martin West as co-founders of X-Gap, which focuses on helping create healthy and successful Leaders and Teams. They work together extensively and also co-authored Hard Road: A Leader's Journey Begins, which we spoke about way back on Episode 4.

Mark has a specific emphasis on providing personalised coaching for Leaders and their Teams. With the focus being on personal growth and improved work performance. His programs are specifically designed for each client, based on 3 fundamental principles: * It’s about you * Live Coaching * Connected to Results

The focus of our conversation today is Coaching, and how Coaching is the key to unlock potential.

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Pip Scott-Allen is originally from Canada and now lives in the beautiful Hunter region of NSW. He is the Director and Lead Facilitator of Premier Team Building. Pip’s business is focused on corporate team building where he designs and facilitates custom team building events. He works with businesses of all sizes across NSW.

Pip refers to his role as a facilitator of awesome with one goal - to make your team awesome!

Instead of standing in front of you and preaching about how to motivate, how to be a creative problem solver, or how to deliver exceptional customer service, Pip prefers to play games to help people reach conclusions and experience real results!

Pip has a love for the outdoors and adventure. This has seen him gather experience in a variety of roles covering ice and rock climbing, mountain expeditions, tree top walks, abseiling, survival skills as well as being an outdoor education leader at Canadian camps for school children.

So, does team building get results?

The focus of our conversation today is around team building activities and exploring this question - does team building get results?

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Sala Takiveikata was born in Fiji and moved to Australia in 2010.

Since coming to Australia, Sala has graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from Macquarie University and is currently working to achieve the Certified Practising Accountant (CPA) qualification. She is also completing her Masters of Commerce at the University of Sydney Business School.

Sala and I met through LinkedIn. When I spent some time talking with Sala, she shared some of her background and the level of adversity she has overcome. I was inspired by her positivity and strength, as well as what she terms 'the gift of adversity'.

I felt a responsibility to bring Sala’s story to life. So today, that is what we are going to do.

The focus of our conversation today is how we can harness the gift of adversity and use it as a strength to help us achieve in life...

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Quang Nguyen is a man who values the time he spends with his family. He believes all business owners should be able to spend time with their families or for doing whatever it is that they love.

Being a first-generation refugee, he has grown up doing his best to combine the opportunities and social norms that come with living in a western society while maintaining and preserving the Vietnamese culture that has been passed on to him.

Quang is a jack of all trades and if you can name the job, he has probably worked in it at some point in his life.

In wanting to give back to the education sector because it had taught him so much, he decided to be an educator. Within two years of teaching, Quang became an assistant principal and started to bring innovative practices into the classroom.

After a conversation with his wife, Quang decided to pursue his other passions starting with his love of psychology and human behaviour. From there it evolved into what he does now, working with business owners so that they can utilise this vehicle to live the life that they had envisioned when they started the business.

Through his business, QN Coaching & Training, Quang works with business owners to provide them with the time, space, insight and strategies to grow their businesses. Working with him is not about doing everything that everyone else is doing, it is about focusing on the one thing that will make the biggest impact in your business.

Quang exclusively charges his fees after his clients achieve their financial targets. In essence, if you do not meet the financial outcome he has set with you, he does not get paid his full fee.

The focus of our conversation today is how his culture and coming to Australia as a refugee has shaped his leadership experiences...

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Are you born with resilience?

Andrew Paton-Smith is the Founder and CEO of Jazoodle based in Wyong on our beautiful Central Coast. He is also a Non-Executive Director at Wyong Race Club where he has been part of the Directorship Team which has turned it into one of the top regional horse training and racing facilities in Australia.

Jazoodle is a tech startup which Andrew founded in 2015. Jazoodle was recently selected as one of Australia's most promising high growth startups and as part of the UNSW Founders 10X Accelerator program.

Jazoodle has a vision to become the world’s foremost resource for organisational success and financial wellbeing. It is a fantastic tool which helps SME businesses understand how the business is performing, what the business is likely to be worth, and what needs to be done to improve.

Andrew started his career in the IT sector back in 2000 with Navigant International. He was a Regional Director based in the UK before moving to Australia to take up a role as Regional Director Asia Pacific. Prior to starting Jazoodle, he was also IT Director for Qantas Business Travel and General Manager of Business Solutions for Amadeus IT Group.

Sadly, Andrew is also a West Ham United supporter.

The focus of our conversation today is resilience...are you born with resilience?

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Alex Dawson is a Senior Consultant for the Asia-Pacific region with RAIN Group, which is a global sales training and performance improvement company. His primary focus is working with companies to deliver profitable growth through impactful sales transformation programs.

Alex also founded Positive Scenario in 2016, driven by his belief happiness is the key to personal and organisational success, and inspired by the findings of Shawn Achor and other thought leaders in positive psychology.

Prior to founding Positive Scenario, Alex held many positions with Gartner, the world’s leading research and advisory firm. Over 15 years, he held national and regional roles in Brisbane, Hong Kong and Sydney. His many achievements ranged from turning low performing businesses into recognised top performers to establishing and growing successful new businesses.

In his facilitation and consulting, Alex leverages his extensive international experience and many years of leading teams to world class performance. Using scientifically proven tactics and principles, he works with executives and leadership teams to enable positive cultural change that leads to major improvements in business results.

The focus of our conversation today is developing a high performance sales culture...

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Elizabeth Houghton is a seasoned HR professional with broad industry experience across FMCG, Manufacturing, Professional Services, Information Technology, Engineering, Motorsport and financial services.

Her expertise in the HR Leadership space stretches across coaching, leadership development, learning solutions, recruitment and selection, performance management, talent management, change management, succession planning and people management.

Elizabeth’s current role is People and Capability Business Partner at Dashing, which is a leader in the execution of retail campaigns offering design, technology and production services. They have 150+ staff based across Sydney, Melbourne and Shanghai.

Elizabeth is also the Founder of Sutton Full Potential, which is a business focused on coaching the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs.

Her greatest satisfaction comes from inspiring people to think differently and to capitalise on the evolving world of work.

The focus of our conversation today is how to build organisational culture...

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Tracey Dean is the Owner and Director of BTS Accounting Services on the Central Coast with over 25 years experience in the finance world. She is very passionate about the continual improvement of the accounting and finance functions in organisations and using this information for improving the strategic business decision making process.

Tracey started her corporate career with McDonald’s Australia where she worked for 12 years as a Corporate Accountant and Tax Manager. Before going back into her Accounting Consultancy which she has been involved in for 10 years, Tracey also spent 3 years as the Chief Financial Officer for a K-12 Independent School.

I often refer to Tracey as a ‘human centred accountant’. Why? Because she is one of the few accountants I know, or have met, that honestly put people first. With this focus, it is only natural that she builds strong and trusted professional relationships with her clients and is a fantastic leader of people.

The focus of our conversation today is how a Leader’s motive impacts Team Dynamics...

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Sam Sooialo is the Owner & Director of Profit & Values. His areas of speciality include Executive Coaching, Business Change and Cultural Transformation. Sam's focused specifically on bridging the gap between Operations and HR.

Sam is heavily involved in the local community and is currently a Non Executive Director on the Boards of three local Not for Profit Organisations - Community SOS, Finding Yellow and Hunter Valley Disability Services.

His previous roles have included IT Consultancy, Director of Operations for Roland Digital Group based in the UK and Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Director for Long Service Corporation at NSW Treasury.

Sam did what probably a lot of people would love to do. He took a career break over the 2016/2017 financial year and traveled Australia with his family in the 4x4 and caravan.

The focus of our conversation today is ‘leading in a world of change’.

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Matt Sharp is the Owner & Director of Sharp Property Buyers, where he helps people secure their dream home or secure their future by investing in quality investment properties.

Away from his buyers agent business, Matt coaches rugby league at the elite junior level with the Sydney Roosters.

Matt’s passion for property has seen him build a diverse portfolio over the last 8 years. His passion for rugby league took him to playing at a semi-professional level on the Central Coast and Overseas.

Matt also worked for 10 years in the corporate sector where he saw the good, the bad and the ugly around leadership and culture.

The combination of his experience across the corporate, sport and entrepreneurial sectors, have given him first hand experience with leadership and teamwork, and building high performance cultures.

Matt shares specifically what rugby league has taught him about leadership...

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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The Importance of Self-Care for Leaders.

Sean Smith is the New Installations Director for Schindler Lifts Singapore where he has lived since 2018.

Prior to his move to Singapore, Sean held a number of different roles in the Jardine Schindler Group in Jakarta from 2013 to 2018. He also spent time in Shanghai working for Globaleye which is a financial planning and wealth management firm.

Sean also did his national service for the Swiss Armed Forces where he served as Lieutenant in the Artillery Division.

Sean’s passion sits with helping the next generation of leaders get ahead in the corporate world by trusting their conscience, and helping them create an environment where employees feel motivated to do their best work and feel connected to the team.

The focus of our conversation today is about ‘taking care of yourself as a leader’.

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Thoughts from a Life-Long Learner.

Stuart McLaren is the current Scottish National U16 Head Coach & Coaching Mentor for Performance Academy Coaching at the Scottish Football Association.

He is a UEFA Pro Licence & AFC ‘A’ Licence qualified coach and was previously the Manager of Scottish Professional Football League club Stirling Albion FC. Stuart has more than 13 years experience coaching senior professional and elite youth football teams.

Stuart began his coaching career as Player/Manager for the Brisbane Strikers in Australia’s NSL in 2003/04 where he was also nominated for Coach of the Year.

His other coaching roles include Assistant Coach with North Queensland Fury in the Hyundai A-League, Football Head Coach at Loughborough University and Co-Coach of England Universities. He has also been a football scout for Football Federation Australia Youth National Teams.

Enjoy the discussion as we focus our conversation on coaching, mentoring, leadership and teamwork in high performance environments...

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Leadership in Public Office. Adam Crouch is the NSW Liberal State Government Member for Terrigal. He is also the Government Whip, Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast and Deputy Chair for the Standing Committee of Parliamentary Privilege and Ethics.

‘Crouchy’ as he is affectionately known, is an unbelievably hard working leader in the Central Coast Community. I doubt there is a street he hasn’t walked, a house he hasn’t visited, or a community group that he hasn’t engaged with at some point in time across his electorate and the broader Central Coast.

I definitely haven’t asked Adam to come on and talk politics, but I do want to focus our conversation today on Leadership in Public Office.

To show what a good sport Crouchy is, he was more than happy when I asked him to don a Liverpool FC scarf during the interview given it is our first English Premier League title in 30 years!

Listen in to hear Crouchy's views on Leadership in Public Office...

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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What you need to know about meetings.

Andrew Moore is the Principal Consultant in Australia for The Table Group, where he works with CEOs and Executive Teams to help them apply the concepts of organisational health.

His clients span a broad spectrum of organisations in fields including emergency services, construction, market research, travel, telecommunications, education and insurance.

Prior to partnering with The Table Group in 2012, Andrew worked as CEO of Harcourts Real Estate in Western Australia. Before that, he worked in various executive roles in the Brisbane real estate industry. Andrew holds a Doctorate in Cultural Change Management and post graduate degrees in Economics and Strategic Organisational Development, and lives with his wife and family in Brisbane.

Andrew and I connected on LinkedIn in 2018 and I was lucky enough to meet with him that same year when I was visiting my home town of Brisbane.

The focus of our conversation today is Meetings. And I know you will also be fascinated by his insight into why meetings are so important and why as leaders, it is vital to have great meetings.

Listen in to learn what you need to know about meetings...

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Building High Performing Teams.

Tim Ferguson is a Director and Facilitator at a company called Leading Teams, which is a company focused on developing high performing teams and leaders. Tim joined Leading Teams in 2012 and is now based in Northern NSW.

Prior to joining Leading Teams he spent fourteen years in business development roles. Primarily, this was in the vocational education and training industry with Construction Training Australia, the Victorian Chamber of Commerce, and Gordon Institute of TAFE. Tim played a major role in The Gordon becoming the most commercially successful TAFE Institute in Australia.

I had the pleasure of first meeting Tim back in 2016.

We got to know each other very well during 2017 when I was involved with an organisation who was a client of Leading Teams and we have remained friends ever since.

He is a fantastic thinker, writer, observer, facilitator and implementer of high performing leadership and building high performing teams.

Enjoy this episode as we focus on Building High Performing Teams...

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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The Culture of Networking.

This conversation was several months in the making.

We had planned to do it in March, but then COVID-19 restrictions came in.

We felt it would be far better if we could sit in the same room with each other and chat about networking. I’m so glad we waited.

I really enjoy sitting down with my good friends, and fellow LinkedInLocal Central Coast co-hosts, Marc Charette and Isaac Feeney and gaining different perspectives. Today, it just happened to be focused on the culture of networking.

I’m sure you will notice, that the way both Marc and Isaac answer questions gives you an insight into their different personalities and communication styles. That is the beauty of people. We are all different and it is these differences that help to make our experiences far more fulfilling.

This is what Marc and Isaac do for me. They give me different perspectives which helps us all become better. That is why I was keen to capture and share their thoughts around networking.

Enjoy this episode as we focus on The Culture of Networking...

[caption id="attachment_2064" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Marc Charette (L), Isaac Feeney (C), Brendan Rogers (R)[/caption]

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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The Power of Purpose.

Simon Neylan is an experienced executive who is currently the General Manager of Alinta Apparel, as well as the Founder and Director of two start up businesses, Jangler and Schoolink.

It is fair to say Simon is a guy who likes to keep himself busy!

I first met Simon a couple of years back. I remember it so clearly. We sat in a cafe in our local area and Simon shared with me some of his story and how he was developing a mobile app that he hoped would revolutionise the act of giving. Ever since, he is someone I am proud to call a friend.

Now, I don’t know why I didn’t explore it at the time, but I never asked why he was so passionate about what he was doing.

It wasn’t until a conversation we had a couple of months back that he shared a deeper meaning to his work.

Sharing that story and understanding how his purpose drives everything he does, is the focus of our conversation today.

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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The focus of our chat today is The Culture of Youth Development.

Joey Peters is a Matildas legend who coincidentally wore the #10 shirt. She is the fifth most capped Matilda of all time, having represented the national Team 110 times between 1996 and 2009, scoring 28 goals.

Joey played in FIFA Women’s World Cups in 1999, 2003, & 2007.

She was an Olympian at the 2004 Athens Games. She is an Asian Cup finalist, and has played in professional football leagues all over the world from the USA, to Brazil and Sweden.

Joey was the winner of the Julie Dolan Medal in 2002/2003 Women’s National League Season and was inducted into the FFA Hall of Fame in 2010.

Joey is a mum, and SBS Football analyst. After retiring from Playing Professional Football in 2009, Joey has continued her passion for Football in the Coaching space with experience from Grassroots to Professional Learning Environments attaining C, B and A Advanced Coaching Licences through Asia (AFC) and Australian (FFA) Football Federations.

Joey has now developed her own Coaching Methodology GAME PLAY LEARN which ‘Hides Learning In FUN’ and provides dynamic, motivating learning environments aimed at inspiring and nurturing players.

Listen in to learn more about The Culture of Youth Development.

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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The Culture of COVID-19.

In this episode, the roles are reversed. Brendan is the interviewee, and he is being interviewed by Quang Ngyuen, from QN Coaching & Training. Quang asked Brendan to come onto a video series he is running during the COVID-19 period to talk about culture, leadership and teamwork and the impact this crisis is having in these areas.

During this episode, Brendan shares his definition of culture and the impact leaders have on it. He talks about the level of support needed for new leaders, the impact of remote working, and he shares his number one piece of advice for all leaders.

Quang also shares a great story about his time as an assistant principal and one of his key learnings.

Sit back and enjoy as Quang opens up the conversation….

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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This episode is the 2nd half of my chat with Bernie Kelly.

As a reminder, Bernie is an experienced executive who has led a number of turnaround and transformation periods across Logistics, Consumer Products, Food & Beverages, Health Care & MedTech.

He has worked with approximately 100 leadership teams across Australia, NZ, and Asia and is known for setting up leaders and leadership teams for success.

If you haven’t already, I encourage you to go back and listen to Episode 8 Part 1 before listening to this episode.

If you have already listened to part 1, let’s dive into this episode as Bernie shares the other 3 disciplines of Change fit leadership teams.

We pick up the conversation where I ask Bernie about the 2nd practice - Explore.

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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The 4 Practices of Change-Fit Leadership Teams.

Bernie Kelly has been on a journey of discovery over the last 25 years. It’s this journey and his experiences on it, that form the basis for his impending book release due out in June 2020.

The book is titled 'Traction: The 4 Practices of Change-Fit Leadership Teams' and it's the background culminating in this book, that we discuss in this interview. Bernie also shares the 1st practice for change-fit leadership teams.

Bernie reflects deeply on all his experiences. People like that, often have so much to share, and there is so much we can learn from them.

Bernie is no different.

This interview will be released in two parts over the next two weeks.

Enjoy part 1 of my chat with Bernie.

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Leadership Lessons in a Crisis.

In this interview, we focus on the leadership lessons Matt Spindler has learnt during the crisis of COVID-19, also called Coronavirus.

Matt is a partner and co-owner of MCS Partners which is an Accounting firm on the Central Coast, NSW.

Matt is a Chartered Accountant with over 20 years experience working with small and medium businesses.

His key areas of focus are SME tax & accounting, business sales & acquisition, business structures, business restructures, business development and SMSF tax & compliance.

Listen in to hear what Matt learnt about leadership during this crisis.

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Are Leaders Born or Trained?

This question is the focus of this episode, and it's no secret what my guest, Melinda Reihberg thinks.

And I have to say, I agree with her 100%.

Melinda is the Director and Lead Trainer of a Leadership and Sales training consultancy called All Trained Up.

Melinda has been a corporate trainer and facilitator for 18 years, and has worked in many countries and across various industries including retail, travel, financial services and automotive.

Some of her clients have included Ford, Holden, Volkswagen, Barbeques Galore, Myer, and Harvey World Travel.

Listen in to hear Melinda's views on training leaders and how it is critical to the success of a business.

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Do you know how to build a trillion dollar culture?

That's what Scotty Schindler did.

Scotty was the start up founder of a Real Estate Software business called ReNet. Scotty retired from ReNet in 2017 at the tender age of 46. At the time of his retirement, ReNet managed over 1.1 trillion dollars of property.

Scotty’s journey has been described as the quintessential Australian success story.

His business and leadership education were learnt on the job, and he was willing to try new things and didn't follow the norms. Scotty did things his way, and as he said, he failed a few times and things weren’t always perfect. But through pure grit, determination and focus, he built a great culture, a great team, and he developed as a great leader.

And all these things combined, helped create a hugely successful business.

Dive in and learn how to build a trillion dollar culture, as well as some of the ‘Scottyisms’ which created the foundation for his business success.

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Lessons for emerging Leaders. It’s a Hard Road when a Leaders Journey Begins.

It’s this journey and the lessons on it, which form the basis of the 2nd half of my interview with Martin West.

As a reminder, Martin is the owner of a consultancy business called X-Gap, which is short for Execution Gap. X-Gap focuses on helping Leaders Create Conversations That Produce Healthy Team Performance. Martin has co-authored a recently released book called Hard Road, A Leader's Journey Begins.

If you haven’t already, I encourage you to go back and listen to episode 4 part 1 before listening to this episode.

If you have already listened to part 1, let’s dive into this episode as Martin shares the other 4 parts of the model from the book, and some more lessons for emerging leaders.

Enjoy part 2 of my chat with Martin.

[caption id="attachment_1319" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Brendan Rogers (left), Hard Road. A Leader's Journey Begins (centre), Martin West (Author - right)[/caption]

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Lessons for emerging Leaders. It's a Hard Road when a Leaders Journey Begins.

It's this journey and the lessons on it, which form the basis of my interview with Martin West.

Martin, along with his co-author, Mark Bragg, recently released Hard Road, A Leader's Journey Begins. The book is a fictional story about a new leader's journey. It provides a 5 part model to help new and emerging leaders as they begin their leadership journey.

Martin is a great friend of mine and mentor. He is the owner of a consultancy business called X-Gap, which focuses on helping Leaders create conversations that produce healthy team performance.

We will be releasing this interview in two parts over the next two weeks. The focus of my two part conversation with Martin is his new book and the lessons for emerging leaders.

In Lessons for Emerging Leaders: Part 1, Martin shares his experience in the air force, and how it helped him find his passion and transition into his consultancy business. He shares the background to the book, and we dive into the first and most critical part of the 5 leadership challenges for emerging Leaders.

Enjoy part 1 of my chat with Martin.

[caption id="attachment_1308" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Martin West (left) & Mark Bragg (right)[/caption]

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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The Power of a Leader. This is the topic I explore with Jess.

Jess is a normal, every day worker. She hasn't held a leadership role, and she does't have any desire to move into a leadership role. What she does know, is how a leader has the power to impact on the work culture.

Jess talks about her experiences and the impact a good leader has on creating a positive work culture. We also talk about the impact a bad leader has on creating a negative work culture. We explore the impact of both on her work attitude, her mental health, and the impact it also has on her family.

The Power of a Leader is great. With great power, comes great responsibility.

We want leaders to use their power for good, which means, creating a positive work culture and a positive work experience for employees like Jess.

If you want to help improve the lives of people at work by sharing your story of great leadership or poor leadership, click here to contact Brendan.

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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How can we work together, better?

That's the question Brendan explores with Laura Prael. Laura is the Owner of LEP Digital, a fast-growing digital marketing agency based on the Central Coast, NSW.

Laura made a strategic decision to focus on improving teamwork within her organisation. The first step in the journey was to use the DiSC profiling tool. This tools helps to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of every individual. Laura realised this is a key step in the process of achieving a high performing team. After all, it's not the individual skills that matter, it's the interaction between the team members.

[caption id="attachment_1163" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] How can we work together better? Brendan Rogers with Laura Prael[/caption]

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Josh Rose talks Mariners Culture with Brendan Rogers.

Josh shares his thoughts about culture, leadership and teamwork during his time as a professional footballer at the Central Coast Mariners. We contrast his stints from 2010-2013 when the Mariners were a successful club against the latter part of his career where they may have been considered the 'easy beats' of the A-League.

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

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Introducing The Culture of Things podcast.

Did you know, worldwide, only 13% of employees are engaged in their work? This means, there are only 13% of employees who are emotionally invested and focused on creating value for their organisations every day. I have experienced first-hand how ‘poor leadership’ negatively impacts the performance of employees and ultimately limits the growth potential and profitability of the business. This is why I felt the need to bring this podcast to life. My purpose through all of my business activities is to have an impact on improving the lives of people at work.

If you have any questions for Brendan around this episode or generally around culture, leadership or teamwork, feel free to contact him here.

The Culture of Things: Recent Episodes

Brendan Rogers

1 Leaders lead themselves first - your relationship with yourself (Episode 84 Matty Elliot)

2 Leaders lead with purpose- taking deliberate steps (Episode 81 Alex Lee)

3 Leaders ask for help - it’s a mindset (Episode 74 Ethan Holland)

4 Leaders have genuine conversations - intent creates opportunity (Episode 68 Gloria Tabi)

5 Leaders create a feedback culture - being deliberate about asking for feedback (Episode 80 Leisa Molloy)

6 Leaders make time to observe culture - take time to observe people in their environment (Episode 89 Matt Kelly)

7 Leaders focus on clarity over certainty - get clarity on next steps even though the future is uncertain (Episode 72 Scott Farlow)

8 Leaders focus on high-value activities - do what you are an expert at, and provide value for your organizations (Episode 77 David Meerman Scott)

9 Leaders choose accountability over popularity - make the tough decisions, set clear expectations, be fair (Episode 86 Dan Cockerell)

10 Leaders learn from their experiences - both failures and successes (Episode 67 Taras Kobernyk)